Race Against Time
by Axellia
Summary: Street racing a growing illegal activity. But with the xmas party, and a murder to solve, will the CSIs realise that Nick & Cheryl have been trapped literally in this murky underworld. CSI Cheryl 6
1. Chapter 1

**Well, here we are on part 6 in the CSI Cheryl series (yeah, there are five other parts if you want to go and read them! ;) )**

**So, CSI, and all it's characters don't belong to me - that's why what your reading is a fan-fic, and that's also why I'm just a poor student - but I'm sure y'all know that! Cheryl, Seth, Eddie and Simon - they're mine. As are any other characters I create, and on that note, they are figments of my over-active imagination and any similarities are purely coincidental.**

**Anything else? I suppose there are the smallest possible references to _Rashorama_, and some to _Grave Danger _(but you must have been living on another planet if you're not familiar with _Grave Danger!_)

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_When Nick came to, he found himself lying on something lumpy and in a small pool of water, in the dark. He groaned, and rubbed the back of his head. When he pulled his hand away, he found it wet, but even when his eyes adjusted to the dark, he couldn't tell if it was because of blood, or because of the water he had been lying in._

_He looked around, squinting in the dark. He could just make out the outline of a body next to him. It was Cheryl – that explained the slight lumpiness as it looked like he was lying on her arm – and her face was almost fully submerged in the water._

_He rolled over onto his knees and pulled her face into his lap. As he brushed her hair out of her face, he noticed what else was causing his lumpy bed. Judging from the state of decay, it was quite possibly the missing hit-and-run victim._

_He put his hand on Cheryl's chest. She wasn't breathing. Nick's stomach dropped. He pulled her onto the body to get her out of the water and began CPR. He wasn't sure how long he was doing it, or how many breaths he had breathed into her, but finally she began coughing up water. He rolled her over onto her side and rubbed her back until she could finally breathe._

_Cheryl groaned loudly, 'Nick? Is that you?'_

'_Yeah. Are you okay?'_

'_I feel a bit dizzy, and my head is killing me, but I'm good.' She paused and frowned, 'where are we, and why am I sitting in water?'_

'_I really don't know.'_

_Finally, Cheryl's eyes became as accustomed to the dark as they were going to. She got to her feet and stuck her arms out. From what she could feel from where she was, the water was up to her ankles, and she was in some form of room, or hole. It wasn't very high, as she could reach the ceiling, and she could just about make it out from the glimmers of light that were peaking through the sides, although she couldn't poke her fingers through. And it wasn't just light that was coming through. It was water as well._

_The hole had concrete walls, but a dirt floor, and when she stretched her arms out found it to be about two or three feet wide – quite tight. As they were at one end of the 'room' she manoeuvred her way past Nick and the body, and carefully began walking forward. However, despite the care, the dark and the water did a very good job of hiding the step, and she tripped up. Literally._

_There was a series of steps upwards. Although she had grazed her hands and elbows, she climbed up the steps until she hit her head. There was something covering the steps, and no matter how hard she pushed, either with her hands, or her back, she couldn't get it to shift. 'Hey, Nick, come here and give me a hand. And watch out for the step.'_

_Nick made his way over, his feet sloshing around in the water, and he climbed the steps. The two of them began pushing. 'What the hell is this?' Asked Nick after the two eventually gave up and sat down on the steps.'_

_Cheryl snorted. 'A mechanic's pit.'_

'_Are you sure?'_

'_I have been in enough of them to know. But as to what's covering it, I have no idea.' She sighed. 'We're not getting out of here unless someone lets us out.' She could feel Nick begin to shake uncontrollably next to her. 'Nick? Are you okay?'

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**So... it's a lot smaller than what I normally put in a chapter, but I am trying something new. Let me know what you think - just hit that wonderful button which could be blue, purple, violet, grey... I dunno, a combination of all?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry, I meant to add at the top of the other chapter all my thanks to Daynaa, Cassandra Jean, Wraiths-Angel, Littlemissprincess721, and Moonsault for the reviews for my last chapter in part five - y'all made my day to read such nice reviews, and I hope this installment doesn't disappoint!**

**A - thanks for the R&R(there will be some bad memories, it wouldn't be right to assume he would be completely fine.)**

**Maraena - thank you for the R&R, and here's the next chapter for you!**

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Cheryl finished rinsing the suds off the bowl and dried her hands. She was comfortably full and satisfied having just finished off a bowl of chilli Nick had made them for their lunch. He was actually a surprisingly good cook. 

'You finished already?' Asked the cook from the kitchen doorway.

'Yeah, and you're just in time to help me dry.' She told him, flinging a tea towel at him. He caught it deftly and dived into the drying.

'So, are you nervous?' Nick asked her.

Today was Cheryl's first day back at work after six weeks off. She had been shot whilst interviewing a witness-come-suspect on her first day of work, and consequently had not been at work, instead recuperating at Nick's. Her new house hadn't been ready (her old one had had a decomposing body in it) as it had needed a fair bit of work to it.

'No.' She told him. 'Much as I have been enjoying staying here with you, I have been itching to get back into the field.'

'Yeah, Horatio said you'd drive yourself crazy if I didn't keep you occupied.'

Horatio Caine was the man in charge of the day shift at the Miami Dade Crime Lab, and also, Cheryl had recently found out, her uncle. When he had found out that his niece had been shot, he had flown straight out to Las Vegas for a couple of days to make sure she was alright, but when Eric had been in the wrong place (a bank) at the wrong time (when it was held up) he had flown straight back. But not before he had left Nick with specific instructions to look after Cheryl.

'Between you and Greg, you already drove me crazy.' Greg had been around on almost a daily basis, and for the first few weeks in particular, the three of them would hang out in Nick's living room watching DVDs, playing poker, or playing computer games. 'And trying to sort out the house didn't help either.'

Alright, so it wasn't the house, so much as Cheryl's furniture. She had called up the removal company to get them to hold onto her belongings, only to find that when she had been ready for them to deliver it the previous week, the company had 'misplaced' it, and then promptly filed for Chapter 11 – bankruptcy.

Thankfully, Nick had allowed her to stay at his for a while longer, and the furniture had turned up. It was, in fact due to be delivered today, in an hour.

'Are you sure you don't need any help?' Nick asked her.

'Nah, I'm good. You've already been good enough to help me. You don't need to spend your afternoon messing around, when you should be resting for work later.'

'Alright, well, if you need some help, just call.' He told her as she picked up her final things. Everything else had been moved in as soon as the house had been ready. So whilst she had no bed to sleep in, she had hung the majority of her clothes in the walk-in closet the previous day, or rather, but the boxes of clothes in there.

She bent down to pick up her last box – one containing Eddie, her pet gosling, and Seth, her pet ferret – a leaving present and birthday present, respectively, from her former colleagues in Miami. 'I'll see you later.'

'Yeah, see you at work. And don't worry about seeing Sara.'

Cheryl rolled her eyes at him and left.

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'Can you not take it into the house?' Cheryl was stood on her driveway a couple of hours later (the removal men had turned up late) hand's on her hips, glaring at the three men in front of her. Not only had they turned up late, they were leaving all of her belongings on the front lawn.

'Sorry, we're not insured.' The guy in charge was telling her.

'Oh, come on!' Cheryl exclaimed. 'If you can unload the furniture onto the drive, surely you can go an extra five steps and take it into the house. Do I look like I can move all of this by myself?'

The man looked her up and down, 'do we look like we care?'

Cheryl gaped at him, 'my God! I hope you die horrible deaths.' She shouted at them as they started to get into their semi.

She sighed and pulled out her phone, 'hey, Nick. I'm sorry to bother you, especially when I said I wouldn't.'

'_No probs Cheryl. What's up?'_

'Ugh, my furniture has _finally_ arrived. Only the removal men have dumped the stuff on the lawn and have no intention of doing anything else with it. I was wondering if you could possibly give me a hand shifting it.'

'_Yeah, of course I can. I'll be straight over with reinforcements.'_

Watching the removal men drive off, she restrained herself from throwing something at the back of the truck and instead turned her attention to the smaller boxes and items that were cluttering her lawn. She had only managed to move a few of the things in the house when Nick turned up.

'Thank you so much,' she told him, as he jumped out of his car, before she burst out in fits of laughter.

'I'm glad I could make you laugh,' he grumbled. 'It's not funny, you know.'

'Nick, come here a minute.' He came and stood next to her, looking at her expectanly.

Cheryl pointed at his SUV, 'you cannot possibly tell me that that is not funny.' A few days ago Nick, Sara and Greg had been called out to a dead body at a wedding, and when they had stopped for food, Nick's truck had been stolen, along with all the evidence. They had managed to solve the murder, and locate Nick's truck, but when it had been returned, it had acquired an interesting new paint job. She cracked up laughing again.

Nick looked at the enormous bed which was slowly sinking into the damp grass, 'I can just as easily go and leave you to move that yourself.'

Cheryl tried to calm herself down, 'I'm sorry Nick, but it's funny. I just wish I had seen your face when it was returned to you.'

'You wouldn't be laughing if it was _your_ Hummer.'

'No,' she agreed, 'but it would have been tracked down before it had even got to the auto shop.'

'They took the tracker off it, you know.'

'The actual tracking device of my Hummer is buried in the centre of the back seat. And for them to get into the seat, they would have had to break into the truck. And there is no way they could have done that without setting the alarm off. When is it getting repainted?'

'Not until the New Year. And then I can forget all about it.'

'Not likely,' smirked Cheryl, 'I have enough photos of this that you'll never need forget it.'

'That's it, I'm calling the guys who dumped your stuff out here, and I'm taking them out for drinks tonight.' As he told her this, another car pulled up and Greg and Warrick emerged from it.

'Man, you picked some duff moving company.' Warrick told Cheryl, eyeing the various items scattered about. 'You look annoyed.'

'Annoyed? First Class passengers on the Titanic were annoyed. What I'm feeling now goes beyond that.' growled Cheryl, rolling her eyes, 'and if it wasn't for the fact the company had gone bust, I would be suing its lousy ass.' She looked at the three guys, the furniture, and then at the house, 'alright, just hang on a sec.'

She disappeared inside and re-emerged moments later, with Eddie close at her heels. 'Sorry, he's being getting really overprotective, and he hasn't seen you in ages,' she told Warrick.

Eddie eyed the three men suspiciously before making a beeline for Greg, flapping his wings. 'Argh,' cried Greg, 'what have I done.'

'Whatever candy is in you pocket, throw it here.' Said Cheryl, as Greg launched a snickers bar at her, 'you should know better than that, by now.' Eddie followed the candy and ran up to Cheryl. 'Forget it, buddy.' She told him, taking the candy bar inside and out of the way.

Between the four of them, the furniture had been relocated inside and into the appropriate rooms in no time. 'Well,' said Warrick as he glanced at his watch, 'we have to be at work soon. If I get back now, I'll catch Tina.'

'You look thrilled at that prospect,' said Cheryl.

'Yeah, well, she's been getting stressed lately at how little time we've spent together. It's not my fault that I work nights and she works days.' He grumbled as he headed to his car. 'You coming Sanders?'

'You need anymore help?' Greg asked her. When she shook her head, he bolted for the car – Warrick looked like he was about to drive off.

'And speaking of work, I should go too,' said Nick, 'we have to be there in a while.'

'Yeah, I need a shower. I'll see you later.'

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She made it to work with ten minutes to spare – she had slipped back into her old habit of speeding quite easily. She headed into the building and straight to the building, the phone propped up under her shoulder as she called the removal company about the behaviour of the men earlier.

Ten minutes later the phone was hurled across the room, narrowly missing Simon, the DNA tech, before bouncing off a wall and straight at Nick, who caught it before it hit Warrick who were both entering the room. 'Are you trying to get arid of the phone?'

'No. Just the stupid-ass woman on the other end.' She told them, sinking onto the couch.

'Did hanging up not have the same effect?' Warrick asked her as he made a beeline for the coffee.

'It wasn't as satisfying as tracking the woman down and strangling her would have been. So I substituted the murder with throwing the phone.'

'Whose murder are you plotting?' Catherine asked as she breezed into the room and joined Warrick at the coffee pot.

'Do I have to pick just one person?' She grumbled.

Catherine raised an eyebrow at her, and sat down opposite. 'Spill,' she told her, before taking a sip from the coffee, 'ugh, I see Greg hasn't gotten in yet.'

'Oh, I finally had my furniture delivered today and the removal men were complete jerks. I was trying to lodge a complaint, but all the woman on the other end of the phone could tell me, was they're bankrupt and not to expect compensation.' She sighed, 'at least I can be satisfied that the jerk no longer has a job. Though, in all honesty, I would prefer to run his arrogant ass over in his semi.'

'Can I have my candy back?' Asked Greg as he came into the breakroom.

Cheryl pulled out a very squished looking snickers from her back pocket and threw it over at him. Greg gave it a funny look, but shrugged and opened it, consuming it in three mouthfuls.

'I see that is a nutritional breakfast, Greg,' said Grissom as he appeared in the doorway. 'Welcome back, Cheryl.'

Cheryl grinned, 'it's good to be back, boss. _Monopoly _can only keep you entertained for so long.'

'Cheryl, you didn't make it through the first game.' Nick pointed out.

'That's because Greg was cheating.'

'Ar wash no!' Greg exclaimed, his mouth full of the chocolate bar, as he leant over and made a swipe at Cheryl.

Grissom raised his eyebrow at the youngest two, and deciding that chiding them would be too much chiding children, he ignored them. 'Tonight's assignments. Catherine and Warrick, you both have a dead body. Dispatch says there's a lot of blood.' He handed a small slip of paper over to Catherine and the two CSIs quickly left.

'Greg, you're with Sara. She's already out in Henderson on a 434.' He handed him a slip of paper with the address on and Greg left, still munching on his candy.

'And what do you have for me, G?' Cheryl asked.

'G?'

Cheryl looked up at the ceiling. Sometimes she forgot just how different Grissom was to Horatio. She looked back at him, 'hmmm, what? Sorry?'

Grissom looked at her, wondering if he should say something, but decided that he was not ready for that one, either. 'I have a 411 for you.'

Cheryl's mouth jumped into an enormous grin. 'A 411?' Asked Nick.

'Stolen vehicle!' Exclaimed Cheryl.

'You managed to find her a case with cars?'

'From what I can gather, it's not just any car. And it's not just her, it's you too. We've already established that you're quite familiar with stolen cars.'

Cheryl began to laugh as Nick's mouth dropped open at the joke Grissom had just made. 'I am never going to live this down, am I?' Groaned Nick.

Still laughing, Cheryl turned her attention back to Grissom. 'I can handle a case by myself, if you have anything else that needs dealing with.'

'Actually, I don't. So I can attempt to clear my desk with paperwork Ecklie has piled on it. But even if I had, I had to promise your uncle that you wouldn't work alone on your first case. _And, _you have to wear a vest.' He turned and left before Cheryl could process what he had just told her.

'Sometimes, having an uncle is really irritating,' she muttered.

'He means well, and on the plus side, you get to work with me.'

Cheryl rolled her eyes, 'I would have thought that after six weeks of me, you would be dying to get a rid of me.

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**Well, I have some presentations to do this week, and would you believe it, i get to write an essay on CSI:NY:D  
In the meantime, hows about y'all be little sparkly stars and leave me a review? Did you like it, or not:p**


	3. Chapter 3

_Firstly, an enormous apology for the lateness of this chapter - my computer hated me for a while, and I got distracted by finals, moving out, and a plot bunny attacked me with another story. Yeah, I know... excuses, excuse, lol!_

_Cassandra - I am so glad to hear that! Thank you! I just saw Cheryl's reaction to his stolen car as I watched the episode, so I had to write it. And thank you for the previous review - I wasn't sure, so I didn't want to assume anything!_

_wraiths-angel - trouble? lol! There will be plently of trouble to come. Just wait til Greg gets the mistletoe out!_

_daynaa - yup, I had so much fun writing it, i wrote nine pages instead of four (:s) but I'd quite happily do it again!_

_LittleItaly - a new reviewer/reader is always welcome - thank you. Crazy as it sounds, i haven't actually planned for Cheryl to get with anyone.The only thing I had planned was some Warrick/Catherine - those two should be together!_

_littlemissprincess721 - thank you - I'm glad you found it funny - I do try! lol. And there will be some more Nick/Cheryl moments, although I'm still not convinced they should get together - kinda spoils the plans I have in the long run._

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Cheryl and Nick pulled up outside a house over in Desert Springs. They had barely gotten out of the Hummer before a man was at their sides. 'Are you here to get my car back?' He asked, getting up in Cheryl's face.

Before Cheryl could respond, Nick was at her side, pushing the man back away from her, and stepping between the two. 'Sir, I am going to have to ask you to take a step back.'

'I'm sorry,' apologised the man, 'I just… the car… it's my… my life. I just want her back.'

Jabbing Nick in the side, Cheryl stepped around him, 'that's what we're going to do,' she told him, after she'd shot a glare at Nick. I'm Detective Cheryl Carter, and this is Nick Stokes, we're with the Crime Lab.'

'Ryan King.'

'I understand we're dealing with an expensive car, Mr King?'

Ryan nodded and pulled out a dog-eared photograph from his pocket, handing it over.

Cheryl let out a whistle of approval, 'a Mitsubishi Evolution? You have good tastes.'

Ryan nodded, 'you know what an Evo is?'

Cheryl smiled tightly, 'I own a Skyline.'

Ryan looked impressed, 'how is someone as young as you able to insure that?'

Cheryl was about to snap at him; _do you want me to find your car for you, or not?_ But Nick spoke up, 'when did you last see your car, Mr King?'

'Last night. I turned the porch light out and went to bed. When I awoke this morning, it was gone.

'What time did you go to bed?'

'Around midnight.'

'And what time did you notice the car was gone?'

'7am.'

'Alright, Mr King,' said Nick. We'll need to process the area now.'

Ryan nodded and walked off. before the two CSIs could start processing, they were joined by Sofia Curtis. 'Evening, guys.'

'Hey, Sofia,' said Cheryl, 'Not on homicide tonight?'

Sofia smiled, 'nope, they assigned me this one. I'm not complaining – no bodies for a night.' She pulled out her notebook, 'I've spoken to all the neighbours, and the best I can get is fromthe guy over the road - thought he heard car engines around about 2am when he got up to go to the bathroom.'

'No alarm?'

Sofia shook her head. 'Whoever took it knew what they were doing.' she pointed behind them to something lying on the ground, 'they disabled both the alarm and tracking device and left them behind.'

'Which means that it's probably clean of prints,' said Nick.

Cheryl and Nick set to processing the scene, whilst Sofia went inside to chat to Ryan. In a little over an hour, they had collected all the evidence there was – the GPS and alarm system. That was it – no tire treads, no transfer, no trace, no nothing.

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'Hey, Warrick?' Said Catherine, as the two of them vacated the vehicle, grabbed their kits and stared walking towards the cordoned off room at the Lone Star Motel.

'Yeah?'

'I told you so.'

Warrick looked over at her, 'huh?'

'Cheryl and Nick,' she told him with a grin. 'They're looking mighty cosy.

Warrick frowned at her, 'Nick has never mentioned anything happening between the two.'

Catherine shrugged her shoulders. 'Maybe not, but look at him. Eight months ago, I thought we lost him. Not because I didn't think we'd find him, or anything. But after. We both dealt with his recovery first hand. And even two months ago, I didn't think he would be the same. He's lost that sparkle, and drive. It was like he was a shell. You must have noticed it.'

'Of course I noticed it. He's my best friend.'

'Then you must have noticed the change in him in the last six weeks. The best thing I ever did was to insist Cheryl stay at his. His sparkle is back. He's laughing more, and he seems to be opening up to her. Lord knows he resisted going to that shrink.'

'Yeah, you're right.'

'Of course I'm right!' Exclaimed Catherine. 'And it's not just been a change in him. Look at Greg. His wacky hair is back, and he's joking around more, whilst still being professional at a crime scene. It's almost like the girl is a walking time machine.'

Warrick looked at her, 'I wish there were other things we could change,' he said softly.

Catherine glanced down at the ground, 'what do you mean?' She asked him, just as softly.

'Warrick, Catherine,' said Detective Jim Brass, interrupting them, 'Welcome to the Bates Motel.'

Catherine could have killed him. It was like there was a conspiracy between him and Grissom, in which either was destined to walk into any conversation that Warrick and herself were to have. Never mind. They could finish this later. 'The vic was killed in a shower?'

'No, just lots of blood.' He lifted the crime tape up for the two CSIs to step under and pointed towards an open door, which the to CSIs walked into.

'Have you ever actually seen _Psycho_,' Warrick asked him, but didn't get a reply.

Brass was right. There was blood everywhere. Even Catherine and Warrick – two very seasoned CSIs – blanched at the sight of it. The killer had killed the victim on the bed and the bed was saturated, as were the nearby walls. The victim was a white male in his late twenties and was completely naked. He had been tied to the bed with some form of wire, which had aided in the amount of blood, and his penis had been… hacked off. The killer had also taken a knife to his chest and pretty much pulled the victim's heart out. On top of all this, there were multiple stabs wounds all over the body.

'Jesus Christ!' Exclaimed Catherine.

'Who is he, Jim?' Asked Warrick, setting his case down.

'Not a clue. The room was registered in the name of Thomus Sinner and he paid in cash. The desk clerk said the guy who paid was white, tall, dark hair, and, I quote, "pretty cute". She had a look at a picture of this guy but she said it wasn't him, and she's never seen him before.' He told them, reading his notes from his small notebook. 'I couldn't find any ID anywhere either, but there's that much blood, it might be possible that it's submerged somewhere. I know you guys tend to find things like that in strange places.'

Catherine smiled in agreement, and was about to say something when David Phillips, the assistant coroner hurried in. She and Warrick moved out of the way to allow him to pass. He set to and began his work without even a second glance at the two CSIs.

'Well, hello to you too, David,' muttered Catherine.

'Sorry, Catherine,' apologised David, 'but out of everything that comes through the coroner's office, it's castration that really gets me.' He frowned and glanced down at something next to the body. 'I think the killer left you something.'

Warrick allowed the camera strap to catch around his neck as he allowed the camera to drop and walked around to the far side of the bed. 'A rose?' He held up the once white, now bloodstained flower for Catherine to see.

'How sweet,' said Catherine dryly.

'That's not all he left,' continued Warrick, holding up a knife.

'Great! A possible murder weapon.' Catherine looked at Warrick, 'everything about this is screaming sexually motivated at me.'

Warrick nodded. 'I'm getting that vibe too.'

David looked up from what he was doing, 'I have a time of death for you too. This guy has been dead around ten hours.'

'Any idea on a cause of death?' Catherine asked the ME.

David shook his head, 'I'm going to have to give you that at the post.' He told them as he indicated to the two awaiting assistants to remove the body. As he left, Warrick and Catherine took a moment tolook atthe scene. It was going to be a very long night.'

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By the time Greg arrived at the crime scene, Sara was busy packing the evidence away into the trunk of her SUV. 'An illegal shooting, eh?' He asked her, 'I've not worked one of those yet.'

'It's not all that exciting, Greg,' Sara sighed, 'someone shot a bear.' She told him, pointing to the animal which was being loaded into a van.

'I guess that one wasn't smarter than the average bears.'

Sara groaned, 'was there no-one else who could have worked this?'

Greg grinned, 'nope, you're stuck with me. Like honey.'

'Greg,' said Sara, slowly, 'quit with the bear references.

Greg shrugged and started to help her finish loading the car. 'You know Cheryl is back at work tonight, don't you.'

Sara stared at him, before slamming the back door shut, and getting in her car and driving off.

'Well, this is going to be interesting,' he muttered to himself as he headed back to his own SUV.

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_So, I know it took me AGES to update this, but please don't punish me by not reviewing (:()! My finals are all done with by Saturday (seriously, who scheduales exams on saturdays!) So i shall hopefully be updating sunday night!_

_Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

_So, a little but of motivation from the reviews, and I have decided to changed the grand scheme of things… so whilst the basic plot is staying the same in my head… all other things I may have agreed to, or denied – that's all up in the air now… mwahahaha – talk about keeping y'all on your toes._

_wraiths-angel - the tension is all in the process of being resolved... Cheryl just needs to work out where all the malice came from on Sara's part._

_Cassandra Jean - Catherine is going to be playing matchmaker for a while yet, considering how I have changed my mind about the ending, may be I will get Cheryl and Nick together? As for their first confrontation, that's not going to be the interesting one. It's going to be the second!_

_

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When they got back to the lab, Cheryl agreed to the request Nick made – would she mind processing all two pieces of evidence whilst he caught up on all the paperwork the IAB had left for him regarding his car getting stolen. Of course, Cheryl didn't manage to keep a straight face whilst he asked her, and she left him in fits of giggles – it wasn't the paperwork – it was merely the fact that she kept thinking of his car and the scantily clad woman on the side of it.

The two parted directions and Cheryl headed to an evidence room. She was halfway in before she realised that Sara was there processing evidence, and by then, it was too late to leave. Cheryl placed her bagged evidence on the table, and Sara looked up, 'do you mind, or would you like me to go elsewhere?'

Sara looked at her and shrugged, before returning her attention to the evidence in front of her. Cheryl pulled a face at her, which Sara didn't catch, and sat down at the opposite side of the table and began examining the GPS device. Finally, after ten whole minutes of unbearable awkwardness that even her mp3 player, and Augustana, couldn't hide, she decided something had to be done to relieve the tension.

She had been hoping that Sara would have said something first, being as it was her who had caused the tension in the first place when she had accused Cheryl of being a fraud. The consequence of which was that Cheryl had had to bring up her past in front of everybody. Whilst she wasn't exactly ashamed of it, nor was she exactly trying to hide it from everyone, it should have been her choice as to who, when and how she told anyone.

And whilst she couldn't blame them, the others seemed to be acting differently around Sara. Cheryl couldn't put her finger on it. They weren't acting mean or cold – after all, they had known Sara for quite a few years – they just seemed to be acting… different. In fact, the whole situation was just awkward.

Sara stopped what she was doing and looked over.

Cheryl froze, 'I said that out loud, didn't I?'

Sara nodded.

'Well,' she sighed, 'this wasn't exactly how I wanted to go about this, but I guess, at least it broke the ice. You and me have to talk.'

Sara rolled her eyes and sat down on her stool.

'No, don't roll your eyes at me, Sara. What you did was completely out of order. You snooped through my personal files and information, and you had no right to do that. In fact, your pretty lucky I didn't press charges against you for acquiring it without a warrant. Lord knows my uncle was going to get you suspended.'

'Why did you stop him?' Sara asked, a frown on her face.

'Because it was my business, not his.' She folded her arms, 'so, what exactly did I do?'

'You know, both Nick and I put in for a promotion not long before you arrived. Cath had just _been_ demoted back to Grissom's second in command after heading the swing-shift. And then you came waltzing in, looking like you had just graduated from high school at best, and Ecklie's offering you the job of day supervisor.'

'Which I turned down. Forget about leading a shift - I couldn't lead a dog on a leash.'

'You were still offered the position.'

'Ever thought that the Ecklie may have offered it to me because he actually thought I was a better qualified for the job. Regardless of whether or not_ I_ think I'm capable, he seemed to think so.' She frowned, 'but that's not the reason, so spill.'

'What makes you think there's another reason?' Sara asked, glaring at her.

'I'm a CSI Sara, I'm supposed to notice these things. So quit playing games, and tell me.'

Sara suddenly became very quiet and looked down, 'look, it's not important. I'm sorry I did what I did.'

'Oh, no!' Cheryl exclaimed, 'you are not getting out of it that easily. I had to tell my life story to everyone. I'm not even making you spill in front of everyone, either, so forgive me if I don't give up that easily.'

'You think it's easy being in the same lab day after day with the person you love, only to see them open up to any other female but yourself? Teri, Catherine, Sofia, and now you!' She suddenly burst out.

Cheryl was confused. Who was Teri? 'Nick, Greg and I are very good friends, and I'm sorry that that bothers-'

'Just drop it.' Sara muttered, dashing out of the lab.

Cheryl pursed her lips together – why was she feeling like the meanest person in the world. She sighed. She knew the answer to that – two wrongs don't make a right. She had never been a big one on revenge, and she'd very rarely even acted like that with a suspect, let alone a colleague. She returned to her work. If Sara was upset somewhere, the least Cheryl could do was let her be away from her – when Sara confronted her, she never wanted to see her again. However, unlike Sara, she wasn't going to wait six weeks for the issue to get brought up again. Whatever was going on between them, she was going to end it.

Several hours later, and she had pulled the GPS system to pieces, as well as the alarm. Nick was right, there weren't any prints, nor was there any trace. The only thing she had managed to establish was that the wires had been cut with a bog-standard pair of pliers, whist the units had been removed with a low-temperature blowtorch. In other words, nothing. Oh well, she had done the minimum hours for a shift, and now? Now it was time to shop. She had two more days until the Christmas Party, which meant three more days until Christmas Day.

She said goodbye to everyone, whilst looking for Catherine – she was going to ask if she wanted to go shopping with her, although chances were, the mom had done her shopping ages ago – but she was still out at the crime scene with Warrick.

Along with the Secret Santa present (she'd drawn Grissom) she wanted to get Nick and Greg a little something, Horatio and everyone in Miami needed one. And then there was the dress for the party. Apparently it was a formal affair. Catherine's father had graciously let them have a room in one of casino-come-hotels, including bedrooms, so that should party members wish to drink – and there was an open bar – they could spend the night as well.

The presents for everyone in Miami were the easiest… well, accept for Tim. Even Greg, who she'd gotten a few tickets to a Marilyn Manson gig (although she was going to give him tickets for a Celine Dion show first, as a joke). In fact, even Grissom's gift, of an ant farm – it was a joke Secret Santa – had been easy. It was Nick's she'd been struggling on. In the end, she had gone for a watch.

And then it was time for the dress. She spent hours trawling through the stores, even though she knew she was at work that evening – but after six weeks off, where it wasn't that difficult to not sleep, she wasn't bothered – it would be just like pulling a double, and she done hundreds of those. Finally, when she only had two hours to get to work, she found it.

She had never been big on dresses – the fact of the matter being she had one, and, well, the night she wore it, she got shot at… and her drink spiked… although it had also been the same time that Tim had kissed her for the first time.

The dress was turquoise. The man in the boutique said it matched her eyes, but of course, he was trying to sell her a $240 dress, so he was going to say that. But Cheryl actually agreed. It had a _very_ deep plunge halter-neckline and a soft a-line skirt with handkerchief hemline – as the man continued to boast it's qualities. All that meant very little to Cheryl. All she cared about was the fact it was knee length, and floaty, and suited her. Of course, the beading on the bodice, and the double beaded waistline didn't hurt. Along with a pair of high-heeled sandals (which were going to murder her feet) the outfit was amazing.

She paid for it and left, heading straight for work – there was no time to go home, but if she went straight to work, she could shower there. Which is what she did, hanging her new dress in the locker. She was just puling her running shoes back on when Catherine came in.

'You haven't been to sleep yet, have you?' She asked, after taking one look at her.

Cheryl shook her head, 'it took me ages to find a dress.'

'Is that it there?' Asked Catherine, pointing to the black bag the dress was in. Cheryl nodded. 'Can I see it?'

Cheryl stood up and pulled the dress out of the bag. Catherine gasped. 'It's not too much, is it?' Cheryl asked, frowning.

Catherine shook her head, 'no, far from it. It's beautiful. You must have spent a pretty penny on it.'

'I only have on dress. I needed it. Besides, I'm hoping I'll have the chance to wear it again, at some point.' She put it back in the locker and walked with Catherine to the break room.

Everyone was there, except Grissom and Greg. Cheryl slumped onto the couch and lay back against Nick. 'You are going nowhere tonight, Nicky. This is comfortable.'

Nick smiled and wrapped his arm around her, 'I think _G_ might have something to say about that.'

Cheryl looked up at him and stuck her tongue out. When she looked back down, Greg was stood over her holding a piece of mistletoe, a wide grin on his face. 'Yeah, you can get a kiss off me, when you get a kiss of Grissom.' She laughed.

Greg pulled a face, 'ew! I'm not kissing Grissom. You kiss Grissom.'

'No!' Cheryl exclaimed, pushing him away.

'Why is everyone sat around laughing?' Grissom asked the room as he walked in. 'Has everyone closed their cases and needs new one?' He asked as the room laughed harder. He turned to Cheryl and Nick, 'don't comfortable, you two, there has been another high performance vehicle stolen. Sofia is already out there and she seems to think they're connected.'

Nick poked Cheryl in the ribs, and she squealed, jumping to her feet. As she walked passed Greg, he mimicked being a chicken. Cheryl glared at him, grabbed the mistletoe out of his hands and planted one on Grissom. As she threw the plant cutting back to Greg, ignoring the shocked faces on everyone in the room, she noticed Sara. Except she didn't look shocked… she looked… hurt. And then Cheryl understood everything.

* * *

_Well, I'm off to NOLA for a couple of days, minus the laptop, so I know for a fact there won't be an update until late wed, or thursday. Which should give y'all plenty of time to leave me a review. (Hint hint! lol) Some of you have been asking me to set up Cheryl with Nick or Greg. Well, I am actually toying with this idea... we'll see what time allows! (:p)_


	5. Chapter 5

_daynaa - glad you liked! I do aim to have things resolved between the two by the end of this story, hopefully!_

_Cassandra - all I will say, is whatever happens, will happen, largely, due to Catherine. (:p)_

_wraiths-angel - I have a lot planned for this story (and the next) to lay in the ground work for the third. There have been hints in the last one, of things to come... I'm trying to be subtle! I just hope I don't disappoint!_

* * *

'I WANT YOU TO HAVE MY BABIES!' Cheryl read the text message, and laughed.

'What?' Asked Nick, who was driving.

'Greg. He's such the romantic,' she chuckled.

Nick frowned, 'Greg? Romantic? What's he telling you?'

Cheryl smiled at him and jumped out of the truck at their latest location – not far from her first house in Henderson.

They were greeted by Sofia who was comforting a crying man, sat on his porch.

'Hi, guys,' she said, an unimpressed expression on her face. 'This is Bryan Werether. His Honda was stolen early this morning.'

'It wasn't just any Honda,' Bryan cried, springing to life. 'It was a 2000 Honda Civic. I spent six years, and twenty five G's building that thing up from scratch.'

Cheryl frowned, a Civic and an Evo? 'Mr Werether, I'm going to ask you a question,' she told him, 'and if you want your car back, you had better answer it honestly.'

Bryan nodded.

'Have you been involved in any form of street racing.'

Bryan froze and went white, 'I didn't mean to hit her. Is that why they took my car?'

'I'm sorry,' said Nick, just as surprised as the detectives, 'you hit someone?'

'Yeah, but I didn't mean to. She walked out in front of me. I wouldn't have won the race if I had stopped.'

Nick, Sofia and Cheryl were horrified. 'You hit someone and you carried on driving?'

'I know I shouldn't have, and I did go back later, but there was $12,000 riding on this.'

Cheryl walked off in disgust. Frankly, the guy deserved to have his car stolen, and she was tempted to not even bother processing the scene.

'Are you alright?' Nick had come over, as Sofia cuffed Bryan and led him away.

Cheryl nodded.

Nick sighed. If she didn't want to talk, you couldn't make her.

The two processed the scene just as quickly as they had the previous day – again there was only an alarm and a GPS system – nothing else, and headed back to the lab.

----------------------------------

'So, what outrageous thing did Lindsey ask for this year? She still after that pony?' Warrick asked Catherine. The two were back in the lab, making their way down into the morgue.

Catherine rolled her eyes, 'a pony, a car – even though she's not old enough to drive – she still wants her navel pierced, although she now wants her nose pierced as well, about $800 worth of clothing, make-up and CDs.'

'Did you explain that it's a little hard for Santa to carry that much on his sleigh?' Warrick chuckled.

'She no longer believes in Santa – says she's too old.'

'Man, kids grow up far too fast. I was sixteen when I stopped believing.'

Catherine laughed, 'I bet Greg still believes!'

'Have you heard Greg's theory on toilet pixies?' Warrick asked her, as he held the door open.

'Do I want to know?' Robbins asked, as the two walked over.

'Probably not,' said Catherine.

'Very well,' Robbins said, pulling back the sheet which was covering the body. 'Your John Doe here did not die quickly. Or painlessly. His chest was cut open, and someone ripped his heart out.'

Catherine nodded grimly. 'Judging from the height of the arterial spray, the heart was held above him.'

'He watched his own heart stop beating.'

'Is that even possible?' Asked Warrick – both he and Catherine weren't looking particularly well.

'The heart has the potential to continue to beat for an extra six seconds if removed from the body,' Robbins explained.

'Anything else?'

'I got the toxicology report back. There was no sign of any drugs in his system.'

'You mean, someone did that to him with no pain killer?' Catherine asked, looking horrified.

'I'm afraid so.'

'Thank you,' said Warrick. The two left and headed back upstairs.

'We're looking for a monster,' Catherine muttered.

---------------------------

An hour after returning to the lab, Cheryl and Nick had processed the two electronic devices, and Sofia had Bryan in holding – they had no actual evidence that Bryan had hit someone, and no-one had been admitted into the hospitals. The three of them had decided to sit down in the break room and discuss the case over a sandwich.

'I spoke to Ryan,' said Sofia, munching on her tuna on wheat, 'he admitted to racing the night before his car was stolen – the same as Bryan.'

'So, someone is setting up these races as a cover to pick out high performance cars to steal?' Suggested Nick, opening up a bag of potato chips.

Cheryl leant over and grabbed one from his bag, 'I suppose it's a clever way of going about it, although, surely they'd have realised that someone would have noticed the connection.'

Sofia shuck her head, 'I'm not sure. Street racing is illegal – it's not like anyone would admit to it, so they probably would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for Bryan hitting someone.'

'Which we can't prove,' said Cheryl bitterly, 'there is no evidence – no car, no blood, no body, and no-one to admit to witnessing it.'

'I can keep Bryan in holding for another eighteen hours, but after that, his lawyer is going to come crashing down on me.'

'So, we have eighteen hours?'

'Do you really need that much time to preen?' Greg asked as he came waltzing in, sat at the table next to Cheryl, and stole half of her BLT.

'Come again?' Asked Cheryl, as she swiped at him.

'The Christmas Party.'

'We're talking about a case, Greg,' muttered Nick.

'Speaking of which, shouldn't you be working on one?' Sofia asked.

'Yeah, but I think Sara was finding the bear jokes a little _over-bearing_.'

'You _think_?'

'Alright, she sent me out of the lab,' Greg admitted.

'That sounds more like it,' laughed Nick.

Cheryl smiled and reached for her BLT, and was busy munching through it when two men in suits walked in. 'Detective Carter?' The one with blonde hair asked.

Cheryl nodded and hastily swallowed her mouthful of sandwich, dropping the half she had in her hand to the table. 'Yeah, that's me.'

'Special Agent Hawkes and this is Special Agent Smith.' Said the blonde, Hawkes.

Cheryl looked over at Nick, Sofia and Greg, who just shrugged at her. 'How can I help you?' She asked them.

The two agents sat down opposite them at the table. 'We understand you have been investigating a spout of thefts involving high performance vehicles.'

'Well, two of them yes. We have.'

'As I am sure you have established by now, the connection between them is street racing.'

'Yeah. And?'

'Last year, in Los Angeles, Street racing took off. After 2am it was unsafe to go out on the streets through fear of getting run over. The number of hit and runs increased ten-fold.'

Cheryl frowned. She wasn't sure where they were going with this, and in her experience, the FBI weren't exactly the best of people to work with.

'The man orchestrating these races was a Dallas Burrows,' he told them, placing a picture of Burrows on the table, 'with the motive of finding the fastest cars out there and later stealing them. As we closed in on him, he disappeared and went underground. Our sources told us he had moved on. Here to Vegas.'

'And where do we fit into it?' Asked Nick

'We want you to go undercover, Detective Carter.' He told her, ignoring Nick.

Cheryl burst out laughing. 'Pull the other one.'

'We already have your boss' approval.'

'Grissom agreed to this?'

'No, Ecklie.'

Cheryl let out a sigh, 'and why on earth would you pick me?'

'We have been looking through your records – you have had numerous speeding tickets, and you also own a Skyline.'

'So, your telling me that, not only do you think I could race against these guys and stand a chance of winning, just because I have a few tickets, but that you also want me to put my own car on the line.'

'Is there no one else who could do this?' Sofia asked.

'None of our guys are young enough, or have the skills. Our best match is still in hospital recovering from a being shot.'

'Being shot?' Cried Nick, 'you want to use Cheryl because your other agent got shot!'

'I'll do it,' said Cheryl quietly.

'WHAT!' Roared Nick.

'Thank you, Detective Carter,' said Hawkes,' our informant tells us there is going to be a race tonight. At midnight. We will meet you outside here at 11pm and brief you.' Hawkes and Smith left.

'You are not doing it,' fumed Nick.

'Nick, we have a dead body out there, somewhere.'

'I don't care. Do you have any idea how dangerous what you've agreed to do, is?'

'Yeah, actually. I do.' She got to her feet and threw the rest of – the majority of which had not been eaten – sandwich into the trash can. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home, and get my Skyline.'

Cheryl stormed out of the break room and to her locker to pick up her purse, before leaving the lab altogether to pick up her car. She was just as mad as Nick was, but for different reasons. What gave him the right to stop her?

* * *

_I know I'm not really following my Greg and Sara case, but trust me when I say, it's not important. If you really want me to, I will, but I figure, there's enough going on here as it is. I hope you are all still enjoying, and I'm sorry for the big gaps between the chapter updates. I'm off to Vegas next week (I'm going to kidnap Nick and Greg and take them home with me) so I hope to have pretty much rounded off this story by then!_


	6. Chapter 6

_daynaa - I am soooo excited about going! I will officially die should I see any of the cast - although they are on their summer breaks (:() Yup, FBI... well, we already know it's all going to end badly..._

_wraiths-angel - I have decided that Cheryl and Nick are in denial - Cheryl more so. So he's going to want to protect her._

* * *

Cheryl walked out of the locker room and towards the break room, where she was to meet Nick and Sofia when she was done. She walked in and stood in the doorway, waiting for them to finish their coffee.

Finally, Greg, who had been enjoying another (or maybe the same) break, looked up. And dropped the remains of his coffee. 'Holy cow.' He exclaimed.

Nick and Sofia looked over at what had cause Greg to react the way he had, and the two also did a double take. 'Cheryl!' Exclaimed Nick, 'you look…'

'Wow!' Finished Sofia.

Whilst Cheryl already had the car, to fit the part of a street racer, her normal, reserved wardrobe held nothing suitable for the same image, so she had nipped out to the shops earlier and purchased a whole new outfit. It consisted of high-heeled boots, with silver heels; a short purple and white tartan skirt, a purple Wonderbra and a white shirt which was tied up so it barely covered the bra, and showed off the purple stone in her stomach – all in all, she looked like a cross between Britney Spears in her famous school girl outfit, and a Japanese anime character. Combined with her leather, fingerless gloves, and her blonde hair which was hanging loose over her shoulders and down her back, she not only looked like another person, she actually looked her age of twenty four, for once.

Cheryl shrugged. 'You must have seen _The Fast and the Furious_. The girls either wear something like this, or stupidly tight pants. And there is no way I was going to race in leather pants. Although, leaning under the hood could be problematic.' She frowned. 'But if it looks bad, I can change?'

'No way!' Said Greg. 'All you need is a whip.'

'A whip?' Cheryl chuckled, 'I'm going to be playing with horse-power, not horses. I don't see where a whip is going to get me.'

'I think I've had this dream before.' Greg responded.

'Alright,' said Sofia, 'let's get going before Greg lowers the tone to something x-rated.'

'After you,' said Greg to the ladies. The two walked out of the room, leaving Greg and Nick in the break room.

'You know, it's rude to stare,' Nick told Greg, who was watching Cheryl walk down the hall.

'I know, but it's kinda mesmerizing. I never knew Cheryl had legs like that. And that skirt is so short, it should be illegal.'

'I know what you mean,' agreed Nick.

'I wasn't kidding when I said I had that dream. Except it involved a bed and handcuffs.'

'Greg, I do not want to be hearing about you and your pornographic fantasies of Cheryl.'

'Sorry dude, I forgot you had a thing for her.'

'I do not have a _thing_ for her.'

'Uh huh, so when the FBI came and said they wanted Cheryl to drive for them, you got upset because?'

'I know what that world is like. My brother is into cars. He nearly killed himself racing, once. And I've seen the racing scene here in Vegas. I had a case with Catherine a few years back.' He frowned, 'It's not like it seems in the films. It's dangerous and people get hurt, or killed.'

'She may not think about her own safety sometimes, but she cares about her cars. If nothing else, remember she's not going to do anything to damage them.' Greg tried to reassure him.

Nick sighed, 'if she does anything stupid…'

'Well, I'd hurry up and catch them up, because they've gone.' Greg told him. Nick looked down the corridor, saw he was right, and hurried after them.

----------------------------

Warrick and Catherine had moved from the Morgue to the DNA lab, and were stood talking with Simon, waiting for the results to print.

'You both going to the party tomorrow night?'

Catherine smiled, 'My mom is babysitting, for the entire night, so I can drink and have some fun, for once.'

Warrick nodded, 'I'll be there. How about you? You booked it off?'

'Yeah, hey, you guys know Cheryl, right?'

'Yeah, why?'

'Well, I was thinking of asking her if she wanted to go to the party with me,' Simon told them

Catherine looked at him, 'well, actually-'

'Ask her,' interrupted Warrick, 'you never know. I'm not going to guarantee it, because I can't speak for her, but you never know.'

Simon grinned and leapt toward the printer which was spitting out the results. 'All your samples were a match to the victim. He's not in the system, either'

'You ran him already?'

'Oh… yeah.'

'Thanks Si,' said Warrick, as he followed Catherine out of the lab, 'you just saved us a job. Hey, wait up,' he called after Catherine, trying to catch her up. 'What's up with you?'

'_You never know_? Warrick, you know perfectly well that her and Nick are going to get together.'

'Catherine, we know nothing of the sort. Neither of them has given any indication of that.'

'And neither of them have given any indication to the contrary.' She stopped and spun on her heel, so that she was facing him, 'which is why I need your help.'

'Cath, you really worry me when you have that look in your eye.'

------------------------------------------

Cheryl walked out of the lab and into the night air. It was damp, as it had been raining again, but so far the rain was holding off. Not that that made much difference. If it had been raining, and the ground was still wet, that meant less friction on the road, and that meant it was likely that the race could be called off. Stood by the car were the FBI agents Hawkes and Smith.

'You seem to have gotten into this quite well,' Hawkes told her, eyeing her up and down.

'If we want them to take me seriously, I have to take it seriously. If I turn up in jeans and a sweater, they'll think I've watched _The Fast and the Furious_ one time too many. Besides, they're not going to be that interested in what I'm wearing when they see me drive.'

'We were going to put a wire on you,' said Hawkes, 'but from what you're not wearing, well, there's nowhere to hide it.'

'Hey!' Objected Nick, as he caught up with them. 'Is that safe?'

'The wire would simply be a way of catching them saying something incriminating. They wouldn't try anything to endanger her in front of everyone. That's not their MO anyway. The race is simply a cover for them to scope out the best cars in the area, so they can steal them and sell them on.'

Nick frowned, 'fine.'

Agent Hawkes turned his attention back to Cheryl, 'it seems he is still running the same MO as he was in Los Angeles. He will only steal the car which can match his. And he only steals the cars off the owners that beat him – it seems to be something to do with his own twisted revenge.'

'You're telling me that I have to win, then.'

Hawkes nodded.

'No pressure there, then,' Cheryl muttered.

'And where will we be, whilst all this is happening?' Nick asked – he had calmed down, but was still not happy.

'You can be there, at the sight of the race, but only under the condition that you don't, under any circumstances, make any for of contact with Cheryl, or the suspects. You are there for moral support only.'

Nick frowned, but agreed.

Hawkes turned his attention back to Cheryl, 'you do understand the importance of you winning this race, don't you?'

Cheryl nodded, 'it's not just the case, it's my pride on the line too. I'm a sore loser.'

'Alright. We'll have under-covers there already, but they have been briefed not to bring attention to themselves.'

'And me and Nick will be there too.' Sofia told her.

'I'll be fine.' Said Cheryl. 'Like you said, tonight is just about racing.' She unlocked her car and got in. 'I'll see you at the finish line,' she told them.

Nick turned his attention back to Hawkes, 'if she gets hurt-'

'Mr Stokes, the only way Cheryl will get hurt, is if she crashes her car.'

'That's exactly what I'm afraid of,' he muttered, as him and Sofia headed towards her own car.


	7. Chapter 7

_daynaa - is it me, or is Greg slowly turning into a bit of a player? He was loving the ladies in Rashorama. Well, here's the street race._

_Cassandra - Wow, thank you for reviewing both chapters - don't worry, I know that life can get quite hectic sometimes. As for Nick and Cheryl - sometimes you can't see what's in front of you, take the whole Sara/Grissom storyline - it took six seasons for that... don't worry, it wont take Cheryl and Nick half as long to work it out._

* * *

Cheryl took a deep breath. She turned her music on (_Shake That Ass_ by Eminem and Nate Dogg) as loud as it would go – so loud she could feel the bass vibrating her car, and rolled the windows down, before she drove her car into the large gathering. Sofia and Nick were somewhere in the crowd, along with the UC's, but she had yet to spot them. But now wasn't the time to be getting nervous. She pulled up next to a dark green Honda Civic and got out. As she did, she was met by a chorus of wolf whistles, although, she mused, the majority were probably aimed at her car, rather than her. 

One of the guys, who were stood leaning against a black and red Dodge pick-up, counting a wad of money, stopped and looked up as Cheryl shut her door. As she leant against it, he wandered over.

'Now what's a little girly like you doing with a car like that?' He asked her. His pants were halfway down his legs showing his underwear. A white wife-beater and an upside down visor nestled on a mess of blonde spiky hair finished off his look.

Cheryl raised an eyebrow at him. 'What can I say? I like the feeling of power between my legs.'

The crowds hooted. The guy smirked, 'you clearly haven't had the right thing between your fine legs, have you?'

Cheryl smirked back at him, but said nothing.

'So where's your man, because he's a fool to let both his woman _and _his ride out here alone?'

'The car's mine.' She told him.

'_You _own a Nissan skyline?' He asked her in disbelief.

'Yeah, all 650 brake horsepower of it.'

'650? Skyline's average in at around 300,' scoffed the guy.

Cheryl raised her eyebrows. 'Trust me, honey, I have modified this baby to the extreme. It's got 650 BHP under the hood.'

In response to the crowds leering, the blonde cocked his eyebrows at her. 'And what would you know about BHP?'

Cheryl lent in her window and popped the hood. She walked around to the front and lifted the hood for the crowd to see the immaculate engine hidden inside. '4.0ltr in-line six cylinder engine, direct-port nitrous injection, four-core intercoolers, ball-bearing turbos, and titanium valve springs. And enough NOS to fire you ass back to which-ever of the New York Burroughs you came from.' She told him calmly.

The blonde looked somewhat impressed. 'You talk the talk, but do you walk the walk.'

Cheryl turned her back on him to drop the hood, and then leant against it, facing him. 'Oh, I don't walk,' she told him. 'I ride.'

The blonde licked his lips. 'I bet you do, baby. I bet you do.' He held his hand out, 'Thumpy G.'

Cheryl gave him her hand, but instead of shaking it, he brought it up to his lips and kissed it, or rather, kissed the leather of her gloves. 'Cheryl,' she told him, taking her hand back. 'So, do you guys actually race out here, or do you just sit around pretending that you're all that?'

'You want to race?' Thumpy scoffed.

'No, I came out here to look at the pretty little cars.'

'You think you could beat me?'

Cheryl turned around to find a tall guy with a crew cut, white wife-beater, and denim dungarees with only one strap fastened – Dallas. She looked him up and down, 'if you drive like you dress, then yeah, I'm pretty certain I could beat you.'

'This isn't a game, girl. We play for serious money.'

'I don't play for the money. I play for the adrenaline rush. Winning your money off you is the icing on the cake.'

'You're pretty certain you can beat me.' The guy told her. 'You haven't even seen what I'm driving.'

'What ya got?'

The guy pointed to a yellow and black Toyota Supra that was parked up next to a suped-up Toyota Corolla. The mere sight of it was enough for Cheryl to double take. She didn't want to admit it, but it was more than evenly matched for the Skyline, as the car easily pulled in 600BHP of its own. 'Nice car,' she told him, grateful her voice wasn't betraying her worries, 'but we all know that it doesn't matter how good the car is, if the driver can't handle it.'

'I can handle it.' He told her.

'I'm sure you can,' said Cheryl, 'but I can handle mine too. So don't go expecting an easy race. That is, assuming we are actually going to race, because I've been here a while now, and we haven't even discussed the entry fee. Or better yet, whether y'all are too chicken to race on the wet road, or if we're gonna have to move out into the desert.'

'It's three G up front. And we're racing here. Going to the desert is for pussies.'

Cheryl reached into her bra and pulled out a wad of money. She counted thirty notes out and handed them over to Thumpy before putting the remaining notes back into her bra. 'Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't have the balls. Bring it.'

'It's not how you stand by you car, it's how you drive it.' The guy told her, walking over to his car. 'I hope you're not going to cry when I beat your ass.'

Cheryl raised an eyebrow, 'I dunno,' she told him, 'at this rate, I'm gonna win by default because your head is gonna be too big to get into your car.' The guy said nothing, but got into his car.

'You sure you wanna do this?' Thumpy asked her.

'Are you kidding?' She asked him incredulously, 'I can't think of a better Christmas present then taking three grand off him.' She got into her car and started it up, heading over to the start line, which had been created by pouring a line of salt across the road.

--------------------------------------------

Cheryl turned the music down – like the culture demanded, when you were parked up, or just cruising, you turned the hip hop up to show off the electronics and sound system of the car. But when it was time to race, the windows went up (to decrease the air resistance) and the music went down (to hear the engine).

Cheryl leant over and turned her computer on, and brought up the Stand Alone Fuel Management System, (a computer programme which allowed for her to program in the parameters for her NOS). The course was set up and now all they needed to do was to wait for the all clear from the police receiver. And there it was. Thumpy G dropped the flag.

She slammed her foot down on the gas, and brought her foot up off the clutch, before dropping it into second. Her and Dallas took off, pulling ahead of the other two cars almost instantly. In her opinion, Cheryl thought, it was stupid to have allowed them to race – a Mitsubishi Spyder and a Volkswagen Jetta against a Skyline and a Supra – there was no competition and regardless of how much their engines had been 'suped-up,' or how much NOS there was, the BHP was probably half of what it should have been to even be considered a threat.

The first part of the race was relatively straight forward, focusing on the skill of the driver as it wound through downtown Las Vegas on the streets which were mercifully empty at this time of night, although there were several close calls with the cars and pedestrians. Cheryl wasn't sure of the route, so she stayed right on the Supra's tail – there was no point in fancy manoeuvres and overtaking if the route threw something unexpected – like it did now – I-15. She followed Dallas up on the entrance ramp and merged onto the interstate heading straight for the outside lane.

This part of the race was nothing about speed, and it wasn't about skill. It was about balls – how much you had to challenge a semi and an ambulance. Dallas had them, and despite the fact the gap had shortened by the time Cheryl had gotten to it seconds later, Cheryl had balls to, shooting through at 124mph.

Thankfully, the Supra took the next exit, and Cheryl didn't have to battle with anymore trucks. It went flying off before doing a 180 to slide onto a side street which almost double-backed onto the interstate. Cheryl ignored the 'no right turn' sign, as the Supra had, and pulled on the handbrake – it wasn't a perfect handbrake turn – it had been a while since she had had to do one – but it worked, and she maintained control of her car to keep the distance between her and the Supra minimal.

Finally, she recognised where she was. She had a right corner to turn and a quarter-mile stretch left – the fun part, the part which focused on the speed and power of the cars. The only thing was she had to contend with was the right corner being on an intersection. She braked and allowed the car to drift perfectly around the corner, before flooring the gas to shoot through a small gap that had been created in the bollards that were blocking off the street, narrowly missing a pizza delivery car.

The last quarter mile stretch was empty – the blocked off road had seen to that. Her car was already at its top speed of 220mph and neck and neck with the Supra. She hit a button on the steering wheel and felt the sudden burst of speed course through her as the car instantly became 20mph faster, pushing ahead of the Supra.

Dallas was holding back before he hit his NOS. Cheryl wasn't stupid – she knew that he thought she had used her NOS too early. That's why she did it – to encourage him to use his. What _he_ didn't realise was that she had a second tank. As the back of the Supra was inline with her door, she pushed the second button and the car shot forward again.

The chassis was shaking so much that Cheryl was scared that the car would fall apart on her. She'd seen that happen before and it wasn't a pretty sight – few cars had been able to recover 100 from that. Thankfully, the Japanese make excellent cars, and it held. The car pulled forward and crossed the finish line a full hood in front of the Supra.

Cheryl slammed on the brakes, and performed another 180, tyres squealing as the rubber burnt off clouds of smoke, and came screeching to a halt. The Supra had come to a halt further up the road and reversed back to Cheryl as she climbed out of her car to be greeted by the cheering audience.

Thumpy came over and handed her a wad of money, 'minus the 30 for me,' he told her.

Cheryl nodded. She didn't care – the money was going to be donated to charity anyway – she was too busy feeling pretty damn good for winning, a broad grin across her face. Not that long ago, she had wanted to pursue a career in racing, and now she was remembering why. She spotted Nick in the crowd looking extremely relieved and she forgot about her re-emerging desires to race, and remembered exactly why she was there.

'You race a good race,' her opponent told her as he joined her next to her car. 'And your car has a few surprises in it. You do know how dangerous it is to be carrying that much Nitrous Oxide in your car, don't you?'

'She who dares…' Cheryl told him. 'So, am I going to be able to put a name to the guy who's ass I just beat, or would you rather remain anonymous so I can't tell people I whipped your ass?'

'Dallas.'

'Cheryl,' she introduced herself.

'You're not from around here.'

'The accent give it away?'

'I didn't think the English knew how to drive.'

Cheryl smirked at him, 'clearly you shouldn't underestimate your opponent.'

'Clearly. So what brought you out here?'

'I moved here from Miami, after being pulled over one time too many by the cops out there. At first they thought I had stolen the car, but then they began to suspect I was one of the racers, and followed me all over. I moved out here so I could race again.'

'You could have just gone pro.'

'No money in it, especially for women, which you obviously know, otherwise you would be doing it professionally too.'

Dallas nodded, 'glad to see you know something about cars. When I saw you standing there with a car that looked like it had rolled of the set of _The Fast and the Furious_, I thought you were just another girl who thought they'd be able to meet Paul Walker if they drove a car like that.' He leant next to her against her car, 'so, you living in Vegas now?'

'Yeah, over in Henderson, right by the middle school.' She told him. Figured that in order for them to be able to steal her car, she'd have to come over as naïve enough to let a random know where she lived.

'You live by yourself?' He asked.

She nodded.

'You should let me buy you dinner one night.'

Cheryl smiled, 'maybe I will. However, at this moment in time, I should get myself and my car home. I have a work's Christmas party to attend tomorrow night and I should go get some sleep.'

Dallas smiled back at her. He'd just gotten all the information he needed. 'If you want a rematch, you know where to find me.'

Cheryl smiled and got in her car, before carefully driving away from the crowd and back to the Crime Lab for a debrief.

* * *

_Thank you for reading - don't forget to leave a review - I'm always happy to know what y'all are thinking, and any improvements that could be made._


	8. Chapter 8

_wraiths-angel - Nick's not going to get jealous over Dallas... No... he witness Cheryl driving like a maniac. He has other things to worry about._

_Cassandra - No, he's not, really.It's Cheryl who is! And Dallas isn't really a problem._

_daynaa - Thumpy was in an episode of season 3... um, episode one, Revenge is Best Served Cold - I laughed my head off when I saw him - it was Carmine Giovizzano (Danny from NY) He looked such a muppet, he had to come back. As for cars, well, in high school, the majority of my friends were guys, and I spent far too much time in the garage with my dad, who is, or was, a mechanic._

* * *

As she walked into the Crime Lab, she met up with Warrick and Catherine who were just leaving to follow up on a lead they had pertaining to their case. Warrick let out a low whistle when he saw what she was wearing, 'damn, girl. Why have I never seen you wearing something like that?'

Catherine swipe at him, slapping him on his shoulder. 'Warrick!' She exclaimed.

'What? She looks… hot!'

Cheryl smiled at him, 'thank you, but don't get used to it. These heels are ridiculous. I don't know how you manage it, Catherine. I can't wait to get back into my running shoes.'

Catherine laughed, 'I used to dance in heels bigger than yours. You get used to it.'

'Ugh,' Cheryl groaned, 'I think I'll be saving heels for court.'

'I tell you what,' said Warrick, 'turn up to court like that, and the men in the jury won't care if you tell them the defendant killed the victim with a slab of jello.'

'Come on, you!' Exclaimed Catherine, 'we have a dead body we need to identify.'

They both said goodbye to Cheryl and left, allowing Cheryl to make her way to the break room, where she went straight to the fridge and pulled out a banana. She was busy munching on it when Nick and Sofia entered.

'I never want to see you drive like that again!' Exclaimed Nick, sitting down next to her.

'They had video cameras set up at various points and were sending broadcasts back to some of the cars that hadn't participated. We saw everything.' Sofia explained to Cheryl, who was just plain confused.

Cheryl's mouth formed a silent o.

'Oh?' Exclaimed Nick, 'you nearly got caught up between a truck and an ambulance, and you were so close to hitting a pizza delivery car when you _ran a red!_'

'Nick, I was hardly going to stop for a red. I was doing 50 when I took that corner.'

'I KNOW!' He exploded.

Cheryl jumped up, 'don't even start losing your temper with me!' She shouted back at him, 'I knew what I was doing.'

Nick joined her in standing, 'don't you _start_ claiming you are the best driver out there. Because you're not.'

'I'm not claiming to be! Jesus, Nick, I have been driving legally for less than ten years. You can't be a good driver with that low an amount of experience, and I'm not stupid enough to think I am. What I _am_ telling you is, that it is not my first time driving a car at those speeds, and I _do_ know what my car, and what I can handle, when it comes to driving. The whole point of street racing is that it's dangerous – it pushes you to the limit. That's why people do it.'

'And that's why it's illegal!'

Cheryl threw her arms up in exasperation, 'It is no more dangerous than what traffic police do. The only difference is, they have lights and sirens to make the traffic move out of the way.'

'Traffic police under-go extensive training. You didn't!'

'What do you want me to do, Nick? I'm not going to go out and take it up as a hobby, but I'm not going to say I'm not going to do it again – if a case requires it, then I will sodding well do it!'

'Ahem,' interrupted Grissom, clearing his throat from the doorway. Cheryl and Nick turned to face him, becoming silent. 'For the record, the whole lab heard that. If you are going to have an argument to that magnitude, I would prefer it if you did it on your own time, preferably somewhere where you won't be arrested for disturbing the peace.'

'Sorry, Grissom,' they both mumbled.

Grissom stared at the two of them, deciding whether or not he should take it further. He decided against it – it was Christmas, after all. 'The FBI agents are waiting for you down the hall.' He was about to leave when he actually noticed what Cheryl was wearing and stopped. 'I don't think I will ever understand fashion,' he said, before finally leaving.

Nick looked over at Cheryl, 'I'm sorry,' he told her, 'you just scared the hell out of me.'

'I'm sorry too,' she told him, 'I have no idea what it was like to watch it, but I promise you, if I thought it was getting out of control, I would have stopped.'

'Come on,' said Sofia, 'lets go debrief these FBI agents so we can go home.' She left the room, the two CSIs right behind her.

-------------------------------------

'We are never going to identify thus guy, are we?' Sighed Catherine. Their lead had led them nowhere. Now, al they had was a John Doe, and absolutely nothing that could help them find his killer, other than the fact the killer was familiar with the anatomy.

Warrick shook his head, 'I think we have actually reached a dead end.' He glanced over at Grissom who was looking over the folder.

'It's gone cold,' agreed Grissom, giving his seal of approval for them dropping the case. He glanced at the clock, 'you two may as well go home. I don't want to have to give you a case with the Christmas party being tomorrow.

Catherine's mouth almost dropped open, 'thank you, Gil.' Her and Warrick escaped from his office before he could change his mind.

'Alright, who stole Grissom and replaced him with whoever is in there?'

'I don't know, but don't complain. I want to get home to as soon as possible.' She glanced up at Warrick – he didn't look particularly thrilled at that prospect. 'What's the matter? Don't want to go home, or something?'

Warrick bit his lip, and then let out a sigh, 'not really.'

Catherine gave him a puzzled look, 'why-ever not?'

Warrick stopped and turned, 'do you ever feel that you made a really big mistake in your life?'

'Warrick – I-'

'Catherine?'

That was it, Catherine was officially going to kill Grissom. She was going to hunt him down and-

'Catherine?' He repeated.

Catherine gave him a tight smile, 'yes?'

'Have you got a minute?'

Warrick patted her on the shoulder. 'Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow.'

Catherine watched him leave, and sighed, before marching into Grissom's office, 'I am going to have to give you a lesson on timing, Gil,' she told him, sitting down.

Grissom gave her a puzzled look, 'why?'

Catherine gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head, 'never mind.'

---------------------

The debrief was short and uneventful. All that Cheryl could do was tell the agents what Thumpy G and Dallas had said, and now all they could do was wait. Before she went home, and still dressed like a character from a Japanese anime, Cheryl headed to the locker room to grab her things. She didn't have any evidence to process, but she need to modify her phone. She was sat down, pouring over her phone when Greg walked in. 'What are you doing?' He asked her.

'Just setting an alarm.' She explained. 'My cars have a special GPS tracking device on them. It not only tells you where they are, but where they've been too. It's a similar version to the prototype Mazda have been trying out, but whereas all Mazda GPS systems go through Mazda, and the police, I am the only one capable of tracking mine. It's why I panicked when I thought my Hummer had been stolen.'

'How does it work?' He sat down next to her.

'I have a program on my desktop at home, and in the Hummer computer. You type in a twenty-seven digit number, which is already saved on the computers and it pulls up the current location as well as where the car has been in the previous 72 hours. All I am doing is making sure my phone is connected to my computer so it can alert me when the car moves.' Cheryl yawned.

She got up and began rooting around in her locker, trying to find something. 'What have you lost?' Greg asked her.

'My hairbrush.'

'Are you sure it's not at home?'

'No. I left it here on my first day. It's definitely not at home.' She sighed, the groaned, 'this is the second one I've lost.'

'The second?'

'Yeah, I lost one only a couple of weeks before I left Miami.' She rolled her eyes and shut her locker. 'Never mind. The sun will be up soon. I'm going home to bed. I'll see you tomorrow at the Christmas party.'

She walked out of the lab and down the corridor to leave.

'Cheryl,' a voice called from behind her.

She turned around to find Simon making his way out of the DNA lab. 'Hi Simon. What's up?'

'Well, I was wondering, if… would you like to go to the Christmas party with me?'

Cheryl gave him a smile, 'thank you, but I'm not sure what's happening anymore. I'm working on a case for the FBI, and I'm not one hundred percent sure I'll be able to make it, but,' she added seeing his crushed face, 'if I do end up going, I promise to save you a dance.'

'That's not just a polite way of telling me you're going with Stokes?'

Cheryl was startled at the venom in his voice at Nick's name, 'no, of course not. Look at what I'm wearing, Simon. I was out racing tonight.'

Simon glanced down and nodded, 'sorry. Alright, but I'm holding you to that promise of a dance.'

Cheryl nodded and smiled, before turning and hurrying away. Simon seemed a nice guy, but then, every so often, he'd do something a little creepy. Perhaps it was just the fact she needed some sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

_daynaa - yeah, it is that episode (it is also the episode with the giy who played Boone in Lost, too) and this is the start of the party, too._

_Cassandra - yes, I'm glad you noticed that - it's something I'm setting up in the long run for my 'finale' if you will. Cheryl's finding denial land just a little bit too cosy at the moment._

_wraiths-angel - a large part of that will be revealed here, and the rest later._

* * *

Cheryl awoke late the following afternoon, after having fallen asleep on her couch to _The Green Mile_, still dressed in the outfit she had raced in, minus the boots. She got up, fed Seth and Eddie, and went upstairs for a shower. She got dressed quickly, changing into a grey pant suit, and a white camisole, and her usual running shoes. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, and her dress for the party later, she left her house, making sure her Skyline was parked in clear view should someone be looking for it from the street, but in a place where it was secluded from her neighbours, and headed to work in her Hummer.

She was pretty certain they wouldn't try to take it if there was even the remote chance she was at home, and she needed to leave before anyone noticed the fact her Hummer had Las Vegas Crime Lab plastered all over it. (Whilst having her time off, she had finally gotten around to changing Miami Dade, with Las Vegas – she didn't want to confuse anyone – and what with the whole incident of what happened with Nick and his car, the department had demanded it.)

It was raining heavily, which made it perfect conditions for her car to get stolen – whilst not pleasant to work in, it would wash most evidence away. And it was already dark. It was almost depressing that when she finished work the sun still had to rise, and even more so that it had already set when she started.

The lab was almost deserted by the time she got there. The only ones working were those doing overtime, had no family life, and had no intention of going to the Christmas party. It left only a handful of criminalists, and almost no lab technicians, so she was almost surprised to see Nick stretched out in the break room watching the appalling Christmas Eve television programmes. 'I wasn't expecting you in.'

Nick looked up, 'I knew you weren't going to let that car out of your sight for long, so I figure I would give you some company. I also figured that should that car get stolen tonight, you would go chasing after it, regardless of whether or not you had FBI or police backup. I'm just here to make sure you don't get shot again.'

Cheryl smiled, 'thanks, Nick.' She settled down on the couch next to them, and the two of them began watching _Titanic_. They actually managed to watch the whole thing and were considering whether or not to get ready to go to the Christmas Party, which was going to start in a few hours, when the alarm on Cheryl's phone went off. Cheryl looked over at Nick, 'it's time.'

The two of them grabbed their jackets and hurried out to Cheryl's Hummer, running quickly to try and avoid the rain, where Cheryl quickly turned the engine on, and her computer on, loading up her GPS programme. The computer revealed that her car and its drivers were heading south on Boulder Highway. Cheryl set off, heading in the same direction.

Eventually, the Skyline came to a stop on Wagon Train Drive. Fifteen minutes later, and several speed limits ignored, Cheryl pulled up a few houses down from where the computer was telling her her car was – an autoshop. Nick and Cheryl got out of the Hummer and headed over to the garage. There was no sign of anyone around, so the two of them headed around to the back. The two were so busy peering into the murky windows that they didn't hear the movement behind them until it was too late, and both were hit around the back of the head, and knocked unconscious.

-----------------------------------

'Why can't I come?'

Catherine glanced in the mirror at Lindsay who was sat behind her on her bed, watching her put her make-up on. 'Because, Lindsay, it's a party for adults. Now, please stop whining, and go get a bath. Your grandmother will be here soon.'

'But, mom!'

'Don't "but mom" me, Lindsay,' said Catherine, turning to face the sulky teenager, 'you are far too young to be going to this. Besides, you would be bored. There wouldn't be any other children for you to play with.'

'I'm too old for playing, mom. Besides, Greg would dance with me.'

Catherine managed a smile. It was no secret that the fourteen year old had a crush on the hyperactive CSI, 'maybe,' she told her, 'but he's not going to want to dance with you all night.'

'Well, Cheryl would dance with me.' Cheryl had been around a few times and her and Lindsay got on great – it was something to do with her younger step-brother and sister, or something.

'Lindsay, Cheryl is going to be busy dancing with someone else tonight.'

'Is she going to tell Nick she has a crush on him?'

Catherine laughed. Trust her child to notice something that neither Cheryl nor Nick could see. 'I'm going to try to make sure that happens,' she told her, 'now go answer the door – that will be my mother.'

---------------------------------

By the time Catherine actually made it to the casino, the party was in full swing.

'Hi, Mugs,' he father greeted her as she walked in, 'merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas, Sam,' she said, leaning up to give him a kiss. 'You went all out this year.'

Sam shrugged. The room had been decorated to look like a winter wonderland. Everything was white, with ice sculptures, and Christmas trees everywhere. 'I can't stay, I just wanted to say hello, and that you and Lindsay are invited to Christmas dinner tomorrow.'

'Thank you,' she told him, before he walked off. She looked around, spotting Grissom and Jim chattering away, both in suits, under an enormous tree. Sat at the bar was Sara, looking nice in black dress, although she was sat as though she was extremely uncomfortable, drinking a bottle of beer. Well, Sara had never been anything short of a bit of a tomboy, so Catherine wasn't exactly surprised.

She was going to go and join her when she spotted Warrick at one of the large windows staring at the snow – Sam had even gone to the trouble of getting a snow machine.

'Evening,' she said as she walked up to his side.

Warrick turned with a start, 'wow, Catherine. You look… beautiful.'

She was wearing a graceful knee-length purple dress, and did actually look stunning, 'thank you. You look pretty good yourself.' He was wearing a black suit and tie, with a deep red shirt.

Warrick smiled and looked back at the snow, 'Sam really pulled out all the stops, didn't he?'

Catherine nodded, 'it's a good job that terrace is under a cover, because the rain would wash the snow away.'

'How did Lindsey take not being able to go to this?'

'She is in her room sulking. Her argument was that she could dance with Greg all night.'

Warrick chuckled, 'she's still not over that one, then?'

'Oh, and she also asked me when Cheryl was going to tell Nick she liked him,' she turned and took a glass of wine that was being offered to her by a waitress.

Warrick rolled his eyes, 'you're not going to give up on that one, are you?'

'Nope. Someone around here deserves to be happy.'

'I'm happy!' Yelled Greg. It was 9pm, and he was already drunk, dancing around with a lab tech on each arm, whose names Catherine couldn't quite remember, (but suspected to be Jenny and Allie). Somewhat unsurprisingly, Greg was wearing a t-shirt underneath his suit, in replacement of a shirt and tie, as well as sneakers. And on top of his spikes (he'd found the hair gel again) a crown was perched.

'Excuse me, Ladies,' he told them, gently dropping their arms, 'I owe this dance to my be-you-tiful senior colleague, but I will be back.'

'Less of the senior, Greg,' she laughed as he pulled her onto the dance floor. Unfortunately for Catherine, it was an up-tempo number, and Greg was throwing her around to his version of the jive. He ended his dancing with a tango move, dropping Catherine backwards. As he held her with one hand, the other went into his pocket and pulled out a, rather pathetic looking, sprig of mistletoe.

'I have you now, Ms. Willows,' he told her as he leant down and planted a big sloppy kiss on her lips, complete with smacking noises.

'Thanks, Greg,' said Catherine, wiping her mouth as he set her upright. She hurried back to Warrick before he could accost her again.


	10. Chapter 10

_wraiths-angel -I'm happy you're still enjoying!Yup, they'll notice..._

_Cassandra- the answer to your first question lies here, the second, i feel, may take much longer to answer..._

_Maraena - Greg has not been in this season half as much as he should have been. I always found Vegas to be the 'darkest' of the three, and loved having Greg pop up for a bit of light relief - I hope they bring him back next season like he was before._

* * *

When Nick came to, he found himself lying on something lumpy and in a small pool of water, in the dark. He groaned, and rubbed the back of his head. When he pulled his hand away, he found it wet, but even when his eyes adjusted to the dark, he couldn't tell if it was because of blood, or because of the water he had been lying in.

He looked around, squinting in the dark. He could just make out the outline of a body next to him. It was Cheryl – that explained the slight lumpiness as it looked like he was lying on her arm – and her face was almost fully submerged in the water.

He rolled over onto his knees and pulled her face into his lap. As he brushed her hair out of her face, he noticed what else was causing his lumpy bed. Judging from the state of decay, it was quite possibly the hit-and-run victim.

He put his hand on Cheryl's chest. She wasn't breathing. Nick's stomach dropped. He pulled her onto the body to get her out of the water and began CPR. He wasn't sure how long he was doing it, or how many breaths he had breathed into her, but finally she began coughing up water. He rolled her over onto her side and rubbed her back until she could finally breathe.

Cheryl groaned loudly, 'Nick? Is that you?'

'Yeah. Are you okay?'

'I feel a bit dizzy, and my head is killing me, but I'm good.' She paused and frowned, 'where are we, and why am I sitting in water?'

'I really don't know.'

Finally, Cheryl's eyes became as accustomed to the dark as they were going to. She got to her feet and stuck her arms out. From what she could feel from where she was, the water was up to her ankles, and she was in some form of room, or hole. It wasn't very high, as she could reach the ceiling, and she could just about make it out from the glimmers of light that were peaking through the sides, although she couldn't poke her fingers through. And it wasn't just light that was coming through. It was water as well.

The hole had concrete walls, but a dirt floor, and when she stretched her arms out found it to be about two or three feet wide – quite tight. As they were at one end of the 'room' she manoeuvred her way past Nick and the body, and carefully began walking forward. However, despite the care, the dark and the water did a very good job of hiding the step, and she tripped up. Literally.

There was a series of steps upwards. Although she had grazed her hands and elbows, she climbed up the steps until she hit her head. There was something covering the steps, and no matter how hard she pushed, either with her hands, or her back, she couldn't get it to shift. 'Hey, Nick, come here and give me a hand. And watch out for the step.'

Nick made his way over, his feet sloshing around in the water, and he climbed the steps. The two of them began pushing. 'What the hell is this?' Asked Nick after the two eventually gave up and sat down on the steps.'

Cheryl snorted. 'A mechanic's pit.'

'Are you sure?'

'I have been in enough of them to know. But as to what's covering it, I have no idea.' She sighed. 'We're not getting out of here unless someone lets us out.' She could feel Nick begin to shake uncontrollably next to her. 'Nick? Are you okay?'

--------------------------------------

Back on the strip, the Christmas party was in full swing. Greg was getting drunker, and had managed to conjure up several conga trains to even the slowest of ballads. He had also managed to start a snowball fight in the fake snow, and had successfully earned kisses off of about eighty five percent of the women in the room – hence the conga train.

Greg had ditched his jacked a long time ago – the sleeves were getting in the way. He handed a napkin to the last girl he had kissed, complete with his number. Although, what he didn't realise was that about thirteen napkins ago, his zeros had drunkenly started turning into sixes. 'Call me,' he told the red head he gave the napkin to.

The red head cocked an eyebrow, 'isn't that what I should be telling you?'

'I'm a twentieth century guy.'

'Um, Greg, it's the twenty-first century.'

Greg gave her a cheeky grin and jumped up, moving on to the next unsuspecting suspect.

Grissom had danced with Catherine and was currently slow dancing with Sofia, who looked beautiful in red. The both were looking relaxed and content as the chatted whilst they were dancing.

'Is this the same dress that you wore to the first crime scene we processed together?'

Sofia nodded, 'it is actually. I'm surprised you noticed.'

'Sofia, you look exquisite in that dress, of course I was going to remember.'

'That seems so long ago,' she smiled.

'You were ready for a promotion,' said Grissom.

'And you were close to getting fired by Ecklie.'

Grissom smiled, 'some things haven't changed,' he told her, looking at Ecklie, who was talking to someone who was obviously of great importance, and Grissom probably should have recognised, but not being very political didn't, and didn't care either.

'Thank you,' Sofia told him softly.

'For what?' He asked her, slightly puzzled.

'For making me stay. You were the reason I did. And I never thanked you for that.'

The two smiled at each other and continued to dance.

Sara was at the bar, actually a lot more drunk that she appeared. In fact, she was about the only person who looked miserable. She was drinking another bottle of beer, not even bothering to pretend she was listening to Hodges and his girlfriend who were chatting with, or rather, at her.

'…. So you see, Helen, that is why the job of a trace analyst is just as important, if not more so than that of a CSI. We do actually get paid more, don't we, Sara?'

Sara gave a non-committal grunt, took another swig of her beer, and glared of at the dance floor.

'It's just that CSIs get more publicity – they're who the public sees. But I'm hoping that my TV debut the other month will have helped to change the public's perception.' He continued, not even noticing that Sara wasn't even listening.

Catherine parted with Jim, - she had just been dancing with him – and debated heading over to talk to Sara. However, after spotting Warrick by himself, looking just as forlorn, she changed her mind and went to sit with him.

'You look just as miserable as Sara.' She told him.

Warrick frowned at her and took a sip of his whiskey. 'I think Tina's seeing someone else.' He told her suddenly.

Catherine's eyes widened in surprise, 'oh?'

'Yeah, and I think we made a mistake. We shouldn't have gotten married.'

'Oh, Warrick,' sighed Catherine softly, laying a hand on his, 'all marriages have their ups and downs.'

'No, I think I made a mistake,' he repeated, looking at her, 'I married the wrong woman.'

'Where's Neryl and Shick?' Slurred Greg as he came over and landed heavily in a heap on the chair next to Catherine.

That was it – Catherine had had too many interrupted conversations, 'Greg!' She exclaimed, clipping him around the side of the head.

'He's got a point, Cath,' said Warrick, glancing at his watch. It was already around 10.30.

Catherine frowned and pulled her cell phone out of her bag. She flicked through the phone book and dialled Cheryl's number. There was no answer.

'Nick's not answering either,' frowned Warrick, as he hung up his phone.

Catherine shrugged, 'it's still early. Although, by looking at Greggo here, anyone would think it was later. Perhaps they're just running late. The rain is probably messing with the phone signal.'

---------------------------------

'What are you looking for?' Nick asked Cheryl. He was still pushing at the thing covering the hole.

She was on her hands and knees trying to find something in the water. Which was slowly rising. 'My phone.'

'Do you really expect it to work?'

'Nick, do you really expect to shift whatever it is covering us up?' She asked, as she searched the area around the body. 'And no, it probably won't work, but I will at least know it's here, and perhaps, when the others realise that we're missing, they can track it down.' She reached down and plucked it out of the water. Not only had the water destroyed it, it looked like one, or both of them had fallen on it and crushed it – the thing was that destroyed, she seriously doubted if they could locate them with it.

Cheryl sighed, 'I give up on phones. Since I moved back out to America as a CSI, I think I this is the ninth phone that has broken on me. They're going to refuse to pay the insurance on it soon.'

She turned her attention to the dead woman in front of her, and began searching the pockets.

'Now what are you doing?'

'I'm seeing if this woman has anything useful on her. Like a cell phone.' She didn't. There was nothing in her pockets at all – not even a penny. Cheryl sighed, 'they stripped her of everything before they dumped her. Either that, or she never had anything on her to start off with.'

After getting no response, she turned to face Nick – her eyes had become use to the dark enough to make him out. He was sat hyperventilating. Before she could get over to him, he flipped, getting up and pounding at the walls, clawing at the gaps with his fingers. But it was his anguished cries which scared Cheryl – with every scream, she could feel his pain.

* * *

_Two chapters in one day... lol!_


	11. Chapter 11

_daynaa - lucky for Nick he has someone to be with - I couldn't even imagine going what he went through. And I love Greg. I think he would be a real charmer at a party._

_wraiths-angel - well, she's definately gonna try!_

_Cassandra - well, they're going to get out, but it's going to take some help, but thankfully, not all of the team have been drinking. As for H? Well, he'll definately have something to say about it._

* * *

'Nick,' pleaded Cheryl, 'stop it. You're scaring me.'

Nick was clawing desperately at the walls and covering, smacking and punching the concrete and metal as hard as he could. She was stood on the bottom step, staring up at him, tears burning at the corner of her eyes. She had never seen him like this before, and it was scaring her.

She climbed another two steps, so she was out of the water, and grabbed at his arm. He didn't seem to see her, because he swung back, catching her on the cheek, and sending her off balance and flying backwards. Thankfully, the water was now nearlyknee high, and it cushioned her fall.

She sat up, the water crashing back on to her, and scowled. Nick was verging on hysterical now. If he didn't stop, she was going to damn well throw him into the water. She got up, ignoring the waves of water she sent rushing off, and headed up the stairs with more determination.

'Nick! Enough is enough!' Cheryl cried, as she hooked one of her arms under his, and across his chest, and grabbed his right shoulder with her other hand, pulling him backwards. He knocked her in the face again, but she hung on and tugged harder.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the momentum sent Cheryl flying backwards again, and into the water. But this time, Nick went flying back with her. With her arm still around him, she managed to pull them into a sitting position, before dropping her head against his back as she tried to catch her breath which had been knocked out of her.

As she watched the icy water drip from her hair, she suddenly became aware of his back juddering. Nick clawing at the walls had scared her, but to have him crying on her? That was not what she expected.

She loosened her grip slightly, but Nick grabbed her hand to stop her, instead pulling her around so that one of her legs was behind him, and the other was under his legs. And then, he collapsed against her, sobbing into her shoulder.

Using her free hand. Cheryl began awkwardly patting his back. She had never been brilliant with tears. If a suspect cried, it meant that she had cracked them. If a victim cried, she put up emotional blocks to try and stop her getting drawn in. But Nick was a friend, and she wasn't used to dealing with this. She sighed and rested her sore cheek against his wet hair, and began rubbing his back.

-------------------------------

'It's eleven, Warrick. Why are neither of them answering their phones?'

Warrick frowned, 'it does seem a little late now, I agree.' He stood up and got Sofia's attention.

'What's the matter, guys?' She asked, when she had finally made her way over.

'Have you seen, or spoken to Cheryl?'

Sofia shook her head, 'no, I was beginning to worry, actually. She told me she was really looking forward to this – she'd even gone out and bought a dress especially.'

Catherine nodded, 'I saw it. She spent a fortune on it – she's not going to do that then not wear it.'

Sofia scowled, 'if she has done what I think she has.'

'What?' Warrick asked warily.

'You know the undercover case we were working on? Well,' she continued when Warrick and Catherine nodded, 'it was set up so that they would steal her car, so we could close the net on the car burglaries and street racing.'

Catherine shook her head, 'oh, she will have done. She's gone after her car.'

'Nick will have gone with her, then,' said Warrick.

'I agree,' said Sofia, 'after the argument those two had yesterday, he won't be letting her go anywhere alone fast.'

'Shall we worry Grissom?' Asked Warrick.

Catherine looked over at him, he looked like he was having a whale of a time, chatting with Albert and Jim. She shook her head, 'we don't know anything is wrong definitely wrong, yet. And it could just be that they're on a stake out. If we say something, they are going to get into trouble for no reason – Nick's already clocked up enough overtime this month.'

'Alright, so, what do we do?'

Catherine stood up, 'I'm going to the Crime Lab to see if they're there. If not, I'm running a trace on their phones.'

'I'll come with you,' Warrick told her.

'Me two,' said Sofia.

'And me,' said Greg.

'Greg, can you actually stand upright?'

'I'll be fine, I'll just grab a coffee from the crime lab.'

Catherine looked around and spotted Grissom heading towards them, 'quick,' she hissed at Greg, 'slump over the table.'

Greg did as she said, just as Grissom arrived. 'Has he had too much eggnog?'

Catherine gave a forced chuckle, 'yeah, we're going to take him home.'

'All of you?'

'I'm the only one who hasn't been drinking,' said Sofia, 'so I'm the only one that can drive.'

'She can't carry him by herself,' said Catherine.

'And I'm not letting them go by themselves,' added Warrick.

Grissom frowned, 'do you need me to come?'

'No,' said Catherine shortly.

'What she means is,' said Sofia, seeing Grissom's startled expression, 'is that you seem to be enjoying yourself. It won't take long, and besides, the car will be pretty squashed with all of us in it.'

Grissom nodded, 'alright. Just don't be too long.' He started to walk away and then stopped, 'have you seen Cheryl? Only Ecklie has been bugging me about introducing her to various people.'

'Her and Nick got a little caught up,' said Catherine, 'they'll be here soon.' Grissom nodded and walked back to his table.

Warrick and Catherine bent down to 'pick' Greg up and help him out. Except he was taking this 'passed out unconscious' role just a little too far. 'God Greg, you aren't actually that drunk, you could help us out here. You way a ton.'

'It's all muscle,' said Greg proudly as they managed to get him outside.

'I don't care if it is. You're outside now. Stand up by yourself, because I'm not holding you up whilst we wait for the valet.

------------------------------------------------------

Finally, after the longest time, Nick's breathing had become more regular, and Cheryl was almost certain he had fallen asleep, as she continued to sit there, cramped up and stroking his sideburn. The water had risen so much that it was now covering the entirety of her stomach, and was just beginning to cover her breasts. She gave an involuntary shudder: the water was freezing and the thin material of her pant suit wasn't helping. Nick's hand was still clutching at her other hand, and she began playing with his ring.

'It's my school ring.'

Cheryl nodded her head gently, 'I guessed.'

Nick sighed, 'I'm sorry I freaked out on you.'

'I didn't realise you suffered from claustrophobia.'

Nick pulled himself off her and sat upright, 'I don't.' He sighed again, 'It's not confined spaces that bother me. It's being locked in them.'

'Cleithrophobia.' Cheryl said quietly.

'Huh?'

'A fear of being locked in an enclosed space: cleithrophobia.'

'Is that what it is?' Nick got up and sat down next to Cheryl, joining her in leaning against the cold wall. 'I guess you heard about what happened to me last year.'

Cheryl shrugged, 'technically, I have only been in the lab three days.'

Nick took a deep breath, 'I was taken from a crime scene and buried in a box – a glass coffin.'

'That was you?'

'You did hear about it then?'

Cheryl shook her head, 'I was never told it was you. My first trip into the trace lab, and Hodges reeled of a bunch of facts about various people without mentioning any names. And then I wasn't there for nearly seven weeks.' She shrugged, 'I figured if I'm to know things about people, I'd wait for them to tell me. The last thing I wanted was a repeat of what happened to me.' There was a long silence. 'I suffer from trypanophobia, and ophidiophobia.'

'I have no idea what they are,' Nick told her.

'Injections and snakes.'

'You're scared of snakes?'

'They don't blink, and they have scales,' she shuddered, 'I just don't like them.'

The two of them sat in silence, until Nick grabbed her hand and pulled them both to their feet. 'What are you doing?' Cheryl asked him.

He led her over to the steps and sat them both down as close to the top as they could. 'That water was almost at your chin.'

'Oh, God, it was. I hadn't even notice. Nick, this water is climbing faster. It wasn't even at our ankles when we got here.'

'Don't worry,' he said, squeezing her hand, 'we probably have a good four hours before the water makes it to the top. When I was… it took them a little over an hour to find me.' Even as he said the words, the water began to pour in faster.

'Do you want to revise that guess?' Cheryl asked him, clutching tightly at his hand.

* * *

_I suppose this is as good a place as any to tell you this - tomorrow is the day I fly to Vegas... which means, I am going to be very busy for the next week, and probably not going to be able to update... Hopefully, I will be able to put up a chapter by tomorrow afternoon, though! (:s)_


	12. Chapter 12

_daynaa - Thank you. I am loving Vegas! You are going to have to visit when you're old enough - you'd love it!_

_Cassandra - All things considered, I wouldn't expect Sara to even notice, besides, I really like Sofia. I would certainly want these guys going after me if something happened to me. I think if they actually knew where they were, they would definately be working harder._

_wraiths-angel - I wouldn't be that cruel... would I?_

* * *

'The dress is still in her locker,' said Catherine, as she came and joined Sofia, Warrick and Greg in one of the labs.

'We ran Nick's cell first,' said Warrick.

Greg held it up for Catherine to see.

'He's here?'

Warrick shook his head, 'it had fallen down the back of the couch.'

'What about Cheryls?'

'Nothing.'

'Is it possible that that's because of the storm,' Catherine asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Sofia shook her head, 'no.'

'So what do we do now?'

'Well, we know if they went anywhere, they went in Cheryl's Hummer,' said Greg – four cups of coffee were beginning to work their magic.

'And we know that how?'

'How is it that, the most drunk of us all was the only one to notice Nick's truck in the parking lot. There were only about six other cars there, _and_ it has that amazing paint job too.'

Catherine made a swipe at him, 'stop being smart, I was distracted. But how is Cheryl's car going to help?'

'Cheryl won't be too far from her car,' said Greg.

'He's right,' said Sofia, 'but how do we find that?'

'She has some special GPS device in her cars. They're linked up to a computer in her Hummer.'

'Greg, if she's gone out in that Hummer, then how are we going to track it?' Catherine pointed out.

'She has the same programme in her computer at home.'

'Any suggestions of how to get in there? Without breaking in,' Catherine added.

'Nick.'

'Nick's missing too.'

'Yeah,' said Greg, 'but Nick has one of her spare keys.'

'And you don't?' Asked Warrick.

'Well,' said Greg sheepishly, 'I did, but I lost it.'

'How are we going to get into Nick's?' Catherine asked.

'It's alright, I have a spare of his,' said Warrick, pulling out his keychain from his pocket.

---------------------------------------------

The water was now two foot from the top, and still rising. Cheryl was wrapped up in Nick's arms – he said he was doing it for her benefit, to keep her warm, but the truth of the matter was he was scared, and Cheryl knew it. The body bumped into Cheryl's feet again, and she kicked it away.

'Tell me something,' said Nick suddenly, making Cheryl jump.

'Like what?'

'I don't know. Anything.'

'I think you must have learnt everything about me that there is to know.'

'No, Cheryl, actually, you probably know more about me than I do you. All I know is what you told everybody else in the hospital.'

Cheryl sighed. He was right. She knew the names of his five sisters and one brother, and where each was and what they were doing. she even knew that he had a chestnut mare at his parent's ranch from when he was little, called Apple Pie – named so, because the first day he had her, she ate an apple pie which was cooling by the window – even that he had been learning to play the guitar. In fact, pretty much all she didn't know was everything that had happened to him since he became a CSI.

In comparison, all he _really_ knew about her was what she had told him in the hospital, and what he had figured out while they had been living together, which pretty much consisted of her having a child-like mentality, and couldn't stand zucchini.

'When I was four, I was obsessed with birds, and climbed a tree to look at a nest. Except I fell out and broke my arm. I had a plaster cast on for a few weeks, except it didn't stop me climbing trees. I climbed the same one, fell out again, and broke the same arm but in a different place.'

Nick gave a small laugh, 'I bet your mom wasn't impressed.'

'No, she told me not to climb that tree ever again. Which I didn't. But as soon as I was out of the casts, I went and climbed another, fell out again, and broke my other arm. After that, I was forbidden from climbing trees, period. After I broke my arm for the forth time on a climbing frame, I was forbidden from climbing.'

'You must have scared your mom so many times.'

'I think the most scared I ever saw her was when she sent me to university. I know it's not easy to say goodbye to your baby at eighteen, but to do it at thirteen? She moved her life to Cambridge so I didn't have to fend for myself.'

'I think the most scared my mom was, was when I was… buried.'

'You don't have to tell me about that.'

'No, I think I want to,' he sighed, 'I had a gun with me.'

Cheryl gave his arms a squeeze.

'I thought about it, but it was the thought of my mom that stopped me. If I had to go through this alone…'

Cheryl got up and turned around, giving him a hug – trying to stop the shakes which had come back. 'That's right, I'm here, and I have every intention of getting out of here. Christmas is tomorrow, and I want to see what animal Eric has gotten me. I'm thinking goat. Have you got any guesses?'

Nick smiled, 'something exotic, like an iguana.'

'I wouldn't put it past him,' Cheryl chuckled, glad that Nick was allowing her to change the subject.

----------------------------------------

'You can tell Nick's had a woman living here,' observed Sofia as the four of them crowded into Nick's apartment.

'I don't know,' said Catherine, looking at a stack of PS2 games, 'it looks more like Greg has been here.'

'Hey!' Greg objected, 'I don't wear clothes like this,' he said, grabbing at one of Cheryl's tops (which was sat on top of a neatly ironed pile of laundry – it had been left from Cheryl had been there and Nick had yet to return it), and upsetting the laundry all over the floor.

'That's it, Greg, just destroy Nick's apartment,' Warrick muttered.

'So where does Nick keep his keys?' Catherine asked, watching Greg who was now rooting around in one of the draws.

'I dunno, I never pay enough attention to those things.' He tried to close the door, but caught his shirt on the draw and sent it flying out, the contents landing all over the floor.

'I thought you had sobered up?' Warrick mumbled as he watched Greg try to get the draw back from where it came from, unsuccessfully.

Greg shrugged, 'the amount I had?'

'Hey, can I ask you guys a question?' Sofia asked as she walked back into Nick's living room, having come from one of the kitchens.

'Sure,' said Catherine.

'Well, I would have thought she would have told me, but is Cheryl seeing Nick?' She held up a picture of the two which had been attached to his fridge, taken when her and Nick had gone up into the mountains one day. The two were looking very coupley.

'No,' muttered Catherine, 'but you would think it when you see them together. In fact, I think the rest of the world sees it, before they do.'

'Nick sees it,' interrupted Greg.

Catherine whirled around, her hair flying out behind her, 'I beg your pardon?'

'I rang him earlier to see what he was doing about this party, and he said he was going to wait with here with Cheryl, and then bring her to it later.'

Catherine walked over to him and hugged him, 'Greg, I could kiss you.'

Greg turned his head and puckered his lips up, 'right here, Cat.'

'_Could_, Greg, could.'

'He said he was going to bring her, not ask her out on a date, Catherine,' Warrick pointed out.

'When he saw her in her dress, he would have asked her.' Catherine frowned, 'come one, lets find the keys, and then we can find them.'

'So, would these be them?' Sofia was holding up a key and keychain with a mini Hummer on the end.

Greg nodded, 'yup, she gave us the same keychain.'

The four of them filed out of the house and dashed to the car getting soaked in the rain, leaving Nick's house looking like a bomb had gone off in the front room.

--------------------------------------------

'You know, I don't really like Las Vegas,' said Cheryl.

'What? Why not?'

'It's the city itself. It's just far too commercial. The Strip and the casinos and lights are nice, but only if you're here on vacation,' she shifted in her spot, drawing closer into Nick – both were so cold that they were beginning to feel numb – they were still shivering and their teeth chattering.

'I know what you mean, but I wouldn't leave it for anything.'

'No, me neither. There's so much here to stick around for. Besides, I have moved around so much, I think I need to stay in the same place for a while now.'

'I like having you around,' Nick told her, resting his head on hers.

Cheryl managed to smile, 'you just like having someone around who can wipe the smile of Greg's face when he starts claiming he's the _Dead or Alive_ Champion.'

'It's a little bit different than that.'

'That's it!' Exclaimed Cheryl, suddenly. 'This is stupid.' She got up and began pulling her jacket off.

'Cheryl, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about you stripping for me, but I always imagined it happening under different circumstances – like in my bedroom.'

Cheryl gave Nick a small push, 'get your head out of the gutter, Nick,' she told him as she pulled her shoes and socks off.

'Alright then, if you want to do it here, it's fine by me.'

'I think we should limit the time you spent with Greggo – he's turning you into a version of him,' the trousers came off. 'I'm going to stuff my clothes into the gaps. It's not going to stop the water, but it's as sure as hell going to help slow it down.' She pulled her camisole off and began swimming to the far end, dragging her clothes behind her so and stuffing them into the gaps.

Behind her, Nick was also stripping off and began doing the same thing. As soon as their clothes had been used, they turned to the floating body and stripped that – all the holes had been filled, and the water was indeed slowing down. But it had also gone a lot darker.

As Cheryl swam back to the steps, she could tell that Nick wasn't coping well, and wouldn't for much longer – not that they had that much time left, anyway – the water was only a little over a foot away from the top. She wrapped her arms around him, wondering how on earth she was going to keep him, and herself sane, and alive. As he wrapped his arms back around her, she realised that in terms of keeping him distracted, the only thing she really knew was something Tim had done to distract her a few times in the past. Well, if he got much worse, maybe she would have to resort to that?

* * *

_Live from Las Vegas... I am really enjoying it here, and could spend a lot of time here - it's somewhat unsurprisingly, quite inspirational! Well, only a couple more days and I'm out of the desert and back to the bayous for some regular updates! Hope y'all are still enjoying, and thanks for reading!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Yay! I managed to batter out another chapter... although, not yay, because I have been waiting for my plane all day (:() Ah well, it kept me occupied, although it might not be that brilliant a chapter!_

_daynaa - Greg is, without a doubt, my favourite character to write - they could have so much fun with on the show, well, the used to, and then they calmed him down far too much. And you will definately enjoy it - just don't do it alone!_

_Cassandra - I'm gettingher there, slowly - just the map out of denial land is a little crumpled. Cath and co are on their way - maybe in the face of death the two will have an epiphany..._

_wraiths-angel - well, here you go, and I have things planned - she's got to wear her dress, for one!_

* * *

'Let me go in first,' said Greg as they pulled up outside Cheryl's house. 

'Why? So you can destroy hers too?' Asked Catherine with a disapproving glare.

'Noooooo,' sang Greg, 'because Eddie likes me.'

'Fine, just hurry up,' said Warrick.

Greg dashed out from the car, under the porch and struggled to unlock the door before finally getting in. He re-emerged less than ten seconds later being chased out by a very angry Eddie. Greg ran for the car and jumped in. he sat there panting, as the four of them watched Eddie, who was hissing and honking angrily at the car.

'He likes you, does he?' Muttered Warrick. He turned to Sofia, 'do you have any candy in here, at all?'

Sofia leant over and into the glove box and pulled out a slightly deformed Hershey bar, 'here, but why?'

'Because I have a plan.' He unwrapped the chocolate and leant out of the window, throwing the chocolate as far onto the lawn as he could.

Eddie took one last honk at the car and dashed after the chocolate.

'NOW!' Yelled Warrick, and the four of them dashed into Cheryl's house, slamming the door shut behind them, just before Eddie came charging at the front door.

'I think that thing is scarier than a dog,' said Catherine, peering at Eddie through the glass in the door.

'So, why are we here, Greg?' Asked Sofia.

Greg flopped down on the couch, 'she has a tracking device on her cars which can track where they are and where they've been.'

'And you're sat on the couch, rather than at the computer, because?'

'I'm going, I'm going!' Cried Greg, as Catherine clipped him around the ear. He got up and led the other three into Cheryl's study. It was like the rest of the house, bar the living room, and everything was still in boxes. Including the computer.

'She's only been here a couple of days,' said Warrick in defence to the exasperated sigh Catherine let out.

'Come on, it won't take long if we all help to set it up,' said Sofia, turning to the closet box and pulling it open.

'It will be if _you _don't help,' said Catherine, pushing Greg to one side, before he could open one of the boxes and cause just as much chaos and destruction as he had at Nick's.

------------------------

Cheryl could feel herself verging on the edge of consciousness. She was so cold, her body was beginning to tell her that the easiest thing she could do at this point would be to let herself go to sleep. She nuzzled closer to Nick, getting comfortable on his shoulder.

'Hey, come on,' muttered Nick into her ear. 'You've done a great job of keeping me sane so far. Don't give up just yet.'

'I'm not giving up,' she mumbled back.

'If you go to sleep, you will be, and then I'll be here alone.' He paused. 'I don't want to be alone anymore.' He whispered.

Cheryl turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, 'you're not alone,' she whispered back.

---------------------------

'She likes her computer, doesn't she,' grumbled Catherine as they finally managed to put it together.

'It's not much different from any other computer,' Warrick told her calmly, booting it up.

'Let me at it,' cried Greg, 'I want to see where she keeps her porn stash.' He hit the search button and let the computer search through her files.

'Greg, I don't think she has one. I know she's very much like you, but she isn't you.' Muttered Catherine, pushing him out of the way again. The search came up empty. 'See, what a surprise.'

'You know, you two can bicker until you finally sober up, if you want, but that's going to take all night, and if we don't go back with Nick and Cheryl, Grissom is going to have their heads.' Warrick told the two sternly. 'Really Cath, this was your idea.'

Catherine pouted, 'you're right.'

Sofia stepped up to the computer, 'my turn,' she told them, sitting down and searching through the start menu for the right programme. She quickly found it and loaded it up.

'I really don't know what we would have done without you, Sofia,' Warrick told her, planting his hand on her shoulder.

'The Hummer and the Skyline are about five feet away from each other on a road just of boulder highway.' She got up from the computer and headed to wards the door, 'well, are you guys coming, or am I going by myself?'

the three of them followed the blonde detective to the door, and were about to leave the house when Warrick stopped them, 'hang on.'

'What?' Catherine asked him.

'We need more candy.'

As if to confirm Warrick's statement, Eddie let out a loud honk and threw himself against the door.'

'Cheryl always promised me that she would keep a supply of candy in her refrigerator for me, when she finally moved in,' Greg said, making his way to the kitchen, but fell over the back of the couch instead.

'Jeeze, Greg, how long does it take for you to sober up? Just stay there.' Catherine ordered, dashing into the kitchen. It was bare, with a lot of boxes – in short, Cheryl had clearly not been using it much. However, there was a half a loaf of bread, a half empty bottle of Pepsi, and a chocolate bar. The girl really needed to get some grocery shopping done. Catherine grabbed the candy and headed back to the other three.

Warrick took the chocolate and unwrapped it, opened the door and threw it as far as he could. Eddie ignored the hand waving from behind the door and instead went after the chocolate. Warrick, Catherine, Greg and Sofia charged out of the house, only pausing to make sure that the door was shut behind them, and ran to the car, bundling in it.

Sofia set off driving again, heading towards the address they had discovered, driving slowly because of the rain. The half hour journey over there seemed a lot longer than it was, as Greg kept leaning into the front and switching the radio on to find the Christmas songs and sang along to them obnoxiously loud and out of tune, and thus drove everybody mad. In the end, Catherine had to lean into the back and shout at him as if he were her child – well, he was acting like one, and not sobering up particularly fast.

Finally, they pulled up outside of the address – the auto shop.

'There's no-one here,' said Warrick, looking at the dark building.

'Just stay here,' said Sofia, leaning over into her glove box and pulling out a gun. 'I'm going to have a look around.' She dashed off into the rain before any of the CSIs could stop her. She returned a few minutes later, looking like a drowned rat. 'I can see the cars – they're inside. But I can't see Cheryl or Nick anywhere.'

'Well, they've got to be inside, somewhere, because Cheryl wouldn't just leave those cars.'

'We should have a look around,' said Catherine. 'You got any other guns in this car?'

'In the trunk.' They all went to the back of the trunk and Sofia gave them all torches and Warrick a gun, before heading inside of the building.

--------------------------------

The water was now only inches from the top, and both Cheryl and Nick had had to tilt their heads back to breath.

'You know,' said Cheryl, 'I always assumed that if I was going to die, it would be because I got shot. Although, I guess that this was work related, so I shouldn't be surprised.'

Nick let out a sob, 'I thought I was past this.'

Cheryl swam over and pressed her cheek against his, 'I'm sorry.'

'No, I'm glad I'm with you,' he ran his hand over Cheryl's hair. 'Look, there's something I think I should tell you.'

'What?'

'I-'

Cheryl covered his mouth up with her hand, 'shhhhh.'

She listened intently, when both of them jumped at the sound of a loud bang.

'It could be the people who put us here,' Nick told her.

Cheryl moved away, 'well, they already know where we are, so making a noise isn't going to make much difference,' said Cheryl, before she started hammering on the roof, and screaming. Nick took one look at her and started doing the same.


	14. Chapter 14

_Well, I am back 'home' in Baton Rouge, completely broke, had my wallet stolen (which doesn't help the financial situation) and yet, would still do it all over again. So, feeling miserable, have decided that the next couple of chapters (after this one)are going to nice and light, and maybe even a little bit fluffy!_

_daynaa - I loved it - just watch your wallet when you go! Hope I haven't kept you waiting too long._

_Cassandra - Eddie won't go too far - he's too lazy.Although he may be a little grumpy at being left outside. And you're right about Horatio - he knows!_

_wraiths-angel - you'll find out soon enough! Hehehehehe_

* * *

Catherine, Warrick, Sofia and Greg headed into the garage – the door was propped open, and the building was verging on decrepit – but the issue of an illegal search was still questionable. Reasoning that they were only looking for their friends, they carried on, 

They made their way into the actual garage, searching each room in the process, until the arrived at the cars.

'They're not here,' said Catherine, her torch sweeping over the walls.

Sofia was stood watching the rain pour in from a hole in the roof and flow in torrents across the floor, 'they have to be here somewhere.'

'Hey,' cried Greg, 'what's that?' His torch picked up on something over by the other wall. He went to get it, and tripped up over a tool box, sending several spanners, monkey wrenches and various other tools, flying over the floor.

Catherine, Warrick and Sofia all winced at the metallic sound as it grated over the concrete.

'It's Cheryls badge,' he said, picking both himself and the badge up from the floor.

Catherine stood staring at the golden badge, her light shining on the 4201. 'They're here,' she said, before starting to look around the room again.

'Shut up,' Sofia hissed suddenly.

The four of them froze, and then they could hear it – banging.

'Where's that coming from?' Warrick asked.

'It sounds like from the Hummer,' said Greg, walking over to the car.

'It's coming from under it,' Warrick corrected, crouching down next to it. The other three crouched down next to him and peered under the car.

'There's a pit under there,' said Sofia.

'And the cover is weighted down by the Hummer,' said Greg.

Catherine gasped, 'that's not the problem,' she pointed to rear end of the pit (which was the higher end) at the clothes poking out, and the water gushing in.

'We're going to get you two out of there,' She shouted as loudly as she could. 'We need to find the keys,' she told the others.

Sofia stood up and looked in the car, 'we're not going to have to look far,' she told them, pointing into the car. She pulled the door open, jumped in and started the car, putting her foot down so the car went crashing through the rotting wooden door.

AS she pulled the car to a stop, Warrick and Greg both lifted the heavy metal sheet up from off the pit. As the flipped it away, Cheryl and Nick swam to the sides, gasping for air – there was about an inch left from the top, and they had clearly been struggling to breath.

-----------------------------------

Cheryl pulled herself out, and flopped down onto the cold concrete, lying there gasping for much needed air, as Nick dropped down next to her, far too relieved to be out of there, than to be worried about the fact she was lay on the middle of the floor soaking wet and still in her underwear. She was scooped up by Greg – the whole situation had completely sobered him up – and carried into the back seat of her Hummer, where Sofia had turned the heating up full and located a blanket.

Minutes later, Nick was helped into the back by Warrick and Greg, and he curled up under the blanket with Cheryl – both trying to stop their teeth from chattering.

'We should call for an ambulance,' Catherine muttered, joining the two in the back.

'I'm fine,' Cheryl managed to tell her through chattering teeth.

'Me too,' said Nick, 'we just need a hot shower to warm up.

'I think some clothes might be a good idea, too,' said Catherine.

'Where's Grissom?' Cheryl asked.

'Still at the Christmas party,' Catherine told them, 'we had no idea where you were – we thought you were on a stake out.'

'He's going to kill us,' Nick groaned.

'Him, Ecklie… everyone will be furious,' said Warrick as he joined Sofia in the front.

'Not if they don't know you were here,' said Catherine slowly.

'What are you scheming this time?' Warrick asked her warily.

'No one was hurt, and we know where the car is – it's not like we would be processing this scene today anyway, so let's get to the Lab, clean ourselves up, and then go to the party.'

'Catherine, we should take them to a hospital – that water was freezing and they're wearing next to nothing – they've probably got hypothermia, or something.'

Cheryl and Nick looked at each other, 'we're fine, Rick,' said Nick. 'Personally, I'd rather just go to the party and forget all about this.'

Warrick looked at his best friend – Nick's eyes were telling him what his voice wasn't – that he had just had to relive something he never wanted to. He sighed, 'fine.'

'I'll drive the Hummer,' declared Greg.

'You will not!' Exclaimed Cheryl, 'I can smell the alcohol on you from here!'

'I'll drive the Hummer,' said Warrick.

'Greg, you can come back with me,' Sofia told him.

'Aw,' whined Greg, 'that means I'm going to get wet walking back to your car.'

'Greg, you are drenched as it is,' Sofia told him dryly, 'you can't really get any wetter.'

Greg stuck his tongue out at her, then followed her to her car.

'Are you sure you two are alright,' Catherine asked after she had manoeuvred herself into the front seat.

'We will be,' said Cheryl – she was beginning to warm up, slightly – as she nestled into Nick.

Catherine glanced at Warrick and smiled.

--------------------------------------------

Cheryl was sat in front of a mirror at the crime lab, after having one of the hottest showers of her life, dressed in her new dress, putting on make-up, whilst Catherine did her hair.

'You look beautiful.'

Cheryl smiled shyly, ' do you think I look alright? I never wear dresses.'

'I have no idea why not. But you look fabulous.'

Cheryl smiled again, and leant back, shutting her eyes.

'You alright?'

Cheryl opened her eyes and found the other blonde on the graveyard shift staring down at her. She let out a loud sigh, 'Yeah. It's just, sometimes, I feel like I don't have a life. Don't get me wrong – despite all the dead bodies, and rape and abuse cases, I really love this job. But sometimes, it feels like it's all I ever do. I'm either working a case, or sleeping. I still haven't unpacked. The only room I have decorated is the bathroom. I haven't been out… at all. It's after midnight now, and technically, it's Christmas day, but I have spent the entire night in, well, you know. I haven't had a date since…' she trailed off.

'Since?' Catherine encouraged.

'Since Tim, when I was living in Miami. And that was about five months ago.' She let out a frustrated groan, 'it's not like I miss sex, don't get me wrong, I do, it's more that I miss someone. I just want someone to hold me when I get in from a hard shift. Like tonight. But this job is stupidly lonely. And I know that this is a city that never sleeps, but really, what guys would be happy with someone who works all night and sleeps all day.' She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, 'sleep! Sleep? The last time I got eight hours in one go, was when I got shot.'

'Seems to me, you should be looking a little closer to home.'

Cheryl raised an eyebrow, 'huh?'

'Well, someone who works the same hours as you.'

'Someone off this shift?'

Catherine shrugged, 'yeah.'

'Well, I suppose Simon has asked me out probably once a week on average.'

'Simon? The DNA guy?'

'Yeah. Apparently he used to work at the Miami Crime Lab too. Not that I remember him, but he was on the night shift there, so…'

'I was talking about Nick.'

Cheryl burst out laughing, 'Nick? Are you serious?'

Catherine nodded, 'why not? You two are always spending time together.'

'Yeah, but I spent almost as much time with Greg, too. The two are like my best friends. Besides, I think Nick sees me more of a sister anyway.' Cheryl glanced at herself one last time, and got to her feet. 'Come on, everyone will be wondering where we are.'

'You go on ahead – I just want to reapply my mascara,' Catherine told her.

Cheryl nodded, 'don't be too long. Sorry for venting, Cath. I'll catch you later.' She headed out of the locker room, feeling a slight bit better.

Catherine watched her leave, 'sees you as a sister? Sure, because all boys want to sleep with their sisters.'

Warrick walked in catching the end of Catherine's statement. 'Who wants to sleep with their sister?'

'No one,' she said, shaking her head.

Warrick stared at her, in a way that he was almost staring into her soul. 'Catherine Willows, I have seen that look on your face before. Just who are you planning on using your cupid-style matchmaking skills on this time?' He looked back down the corridor at who Catherine was staring intently at with a small smile on her face. It was Nick and Cheryl, looking like they were admiring what the other was wearing. 'Oh, no you don't, Cath.'

Catherine looked up at him with an innocent expression on her face, 'don't what?'

'Those two. Leave them be. They'll work out that they like each other soon enough.

* * *

_Yes, I'm feeling quite... I don't know... but it's making me want to write more.So that's what I'm going to go do! Thank you for reading, and I hope y'all are still enjoying!_


	15. Chapter 15

_Cassandra - I can't decide if I like writing drunk Greg, or matchmaker Catherine the most. And of course Grissom knows, lol. As for H..._

_daynaa - lol, thanks. You don't have to wait long, either!_

_wraiths-angel - it may not be quite as soon as you'd like, but it will happen!_

* * *

Grissom walked over to the six of them as soon as they walked into the building. 'Where on earth have you been?' He asked them.

'We went to take Greg home,' Catherine told him.

'And why, then, is he still with you?'

'I called Catherine on her way home with him, and asked her to pick me up and give me a lift. Only, Greg sobered up in the process,' Cheryl offered.

Grissom frowned and stared intently at his CSIs. 'Now, why don't I believe that?' He sighed, 'is that the story you're all going to stick with?'

The six of them nodded.

'Very well, I'm playing ignorant,' he told them, walking off.

'Seriously, where's Grissom and who's that impostor?' Asked Greg.

'Don't question it,' muttered Catherine, 'just let it be.' She headed off in the direction of the bar, with Warrick and Sofia.

'I love Christmas,' Greg sighed happily. He was about to say something else when he spotted a red-head just off to one side, 'excuse me,' he said to Nick and Cheryl, before making a beeline for her. 'Hi there, my name is Greg, and you must be Angel.'

The red-head pulled a face, 'yeah, you used that line on me a few hours ago.'

Nick and Cheryl looked at each other and laughed, 'I love Greg,' said Cheryl, shaking her head.

'Cheryl, do you want to dance?'

Cheryl smiled, 'yeah, why not,' she agreed, allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor.

'Thank you,' said Nick, after the two had danced for a couple of songs.

Cheryl lifted her head up from his shoulder, 'for what?'

'Keeping me sane.'

'Nick, I owe you the thanks,' she told him, shaking her head softly, 'if you hadn't have gone into work today, I would probably still be in that pit.'

Nick shook his head back at her, 'I'm not sure where your crazy logic is coming from, but I'm pretty certain I would have been in that rescue party, looking for you.'

'I don't think there would have been a rescue party.'

Nick stopped dancing, 'you don't think we would have come after you?'

'Of course I do,' she frowned, 'I meant that I didn't tell anyone what I was doing – the only reason you were there was that you didn't trust me – rightly so, and just me missing wouldn't have been as noticeable as both of us being missing.'

'Cheryl,' he said softly, 'I would have noticed if you weren't here.'

--------------------------------------------------

Catherine finished her champagne off and grabbed another two glasses, making a beeline for Warrick, who was back at the window, staring out at the fake snow. 'Here,' she said, giving him one of the glasses.

'Thanks.'

Catherine took a deep breath, 'about what you were saying earlier.'

Warrick turned to look at her, staring intently. Finally, he grabbed her hand, and dragged her outside, to a secluded spot, underneath both the snow, and the terrace.

'Why are we out here, Warrick?' She asked him.

'Because every time I try to have this conversation with you, someone walks in on us.'

Catherine cocked her head and looked up expectantly.

'After we found Nick, I got thinking about my life, and what I wanted from it - marriage. I spoke to Tina about it, and we realised that we wanted the same thing. The whole situation with Nick made me realise that life's too short, so I married her,' he sighed, 'it turns out, though, that the only thing we seem to have in common these days, is that we both wanted to get married. We don't even work the same shifts. She's working now, which is why she isn't here.'

'Warrick, I-'

'No, let me finish,' Cath,' he cut her off. 'What I should have thought about, was _who_ I wanted, not _what_ I wanted.'

Catherine stood staring at him, her heart caught in her throat, hardly daring to breath.

'Tonight, we nearly lost Nick again… and Cheryl too. Another reminder that life is fragile. Cath,' he took her hands, 'I want you. I should have told you this last year, and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to realise I made a mistake. I just hope it isn't too late.'

Catherine stared up at him, and broke out into a smile, 'better late than never,' she told him, before wrapping her arms around him and giving him a kiss that was much more passionate than one she had ever given anyone before – over a year's worth of pent up emotions left her lips in a matter of minutes.

---------------------------------------------------

Cheryl and Nick had been dancing for a good hour, when she had to sit down – the heels made her legs look great, but, they were murder on her feet.

'You know, I don't think I told you this, but you look beautiful tonight.' Nick told her.

Cheryl smiled shyly, 'thank you.'

'No, I mean it. In fact, I would go so far as to say, you are probably the most beautiful woman in here.'

'Nick…' Cheryl blushed, glancing down at her knees.

'Cheryl, I-'

'Cheryl, there you are. I've been looking for you all evening. I thought you had stood me up.'

'Hi Simon,' greeted Cheryl, tearing herself away from Nick's gaze, 'I'm sorry, I… I got held up with work.'

'No worries,' said Simon brightly after casting a scowl at Nick, 'you're here now. That's all that matters,' he held out his hand, 'how about that dance?'

Cheryl glanced over at Nick.

'I'm going to go rescue Greg,' said Nick getting to his feet. 'That girl looks like she's about to throw her drink over him.' He darted off in Greg's direction, leaving Cheryl with no other option but to dance with Simon.

-------------------------------------------------------

'So, would you like to enlighten me on what happened to all of you earlier?' Asked Grissom.

Sofia looked up at him – the two were dancing again.

'I'm pleading the fifth,' she told him, slyly.

Grissom nodded, 'I thought as much. You do realise, though, that I am perfectly capable of following the evidence – that won't lie to me.'

'I also know, that you trust your team, and that had anything serious happened, then they would have told you, because they trust you.'

'Ah, so you are admitting something happened.'

Sofia smiled, 'merely speculating.'

'Merely speculating,' he repeated.

------------------------------------------------------

Several dances later, and Cheryl was exhausted. She prised herself away from Simon and headed to the bar. As she picked up her drink, she noticed Sara sat at the bar, looking less than sober, and less than happy, watching Grissom and Sofia with a scowl on her face. Cheryl sighed and sat down on the chair next to her. Sara glanced over at her, rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her drink.

'Alright, this ends now,' said Cheryl. 'I'm going to say something to you, and then I am drawing a line after everything that has happened up until tonight – I do not need the added aggravation of working with you. It's not worth it. So here goes, TELL HIM.'

'I beg your pardon.'

'I can see what's going on, and frankly it's a little bit pathetic. You like him, I get it, but just because you don't have the balls to tell him that, doesn't mean that you have to be a complete bitch to everyone else when he starts dancing with someone else. You have a mean jealous streak, Sara, and you should either deal with it, or go tell him, and save everybody else whilst you're at it. At the worst he says no, then you go out and move on.'

Sara glared at her, 'what right do you have-'

'Don't give me any of that rights bull. You clearly didn't think I should have any, so why should I extend that courtesy to you. You should just be thankful that I did this one on one.' Cheryl gave her a glare of her own, before heading over to her table where her bag was. She glanced back at Sara, who was scowling at her drink. She gave up on it, and walked straight over to Grissom and Sofia, before cutting in.

Cheryl shook her head and glanced out of the window. She was about to pick her bag up, when something outside caught her attention, making her do a double take.

'What's the matter?' Nick asked her, as he came up beside her.

Cheryl's smile spread to a wide grin as she pointed out of the window.

Nick followed her arm, 'well I'll be…' The two of them were stood staring at Catherine and Warrick kissing each other in the snow.

Cheryl yawned, 'I'm going to get back. I'm exhausted.'

'They have rooms here, you know.'

'Yeah, but I have Eddie and Seth at home, who are probably going to be in a mood about me leaving them.'

'You want a lift?'

'No, you stay here and enjoy the party. I'm good.'

--------------------------------------------------------

Cheryl pulled up into her drive and shut off her engine. Grabbing her bag, she dashed under the porch to try and avoid the rain, which was still pouring down heavily. She was greeted by Eddie, with a forlorn honk, sat outside the door.

'Eddie, you dumb bird! There's a cat flap for you in the back door,' she muttered, as she let herself in. She flicked on the lights and stood staring at her living room. Someone had been in there. She pulled out her gun and edge cautiously into the building. When she saw her computer set up and the tracking programme still running, she put her gun away. She hadn't even thought about how the others had found her, and this made sense.

She made her way to the kitchen, made herself a hot chocolate, and then went into the living room. Hitting the play button on her flashing machine.

'_Cheryl Lesley Carter!' _Horatio's voice bellowed out of the machine.

Cheryl winced.

'_You have been back on the job for two days and I hear that you have wound up getting yourself into some trouble. AGAIN.'_

Cheryl sighed and rolled her eyes.

'_And you can stop rolling your eyes at me.'_

Cheryl froze and glanced at the door.

'_No, I am not there, either. You should be grateful that it's Christmas, because the only thing which stopped me from getting on a plane, was the fact that you're coming here in a week. Now, I'm not going to lecture you over the phone – yes that means I am saving it for when you arrive.' _He sighed, _'please be more careful, Cheryl. You scare me sometimes.'_ He paused, _'you really do scare me. Have a Merry Christmas, and I'll see you soon.'_

The machine beeped off, and Cheryl sat staring at it – did her uncle have a tracking device, or danger alert on her or something? She shook her head in disbelief. She may scare her uncle sometimes, but he scared her more. She sighed and decided to watch a film. Sticking _The Green Mile_ into the DVD player, she settled back, Eddie curled up at her feet, and started watching the film.

She was disturbed part way through by someone knocking at her door.

Cheryl got up and wandered over to the door, wondering who would be calling around at this time on Christmas day. She was greeted by Nick, who, instead of standing under porch, was stood in the rain, soaked to the skin – although, not necessarily a bad thing. He looked hot (his thin black top was clinging to all his muscles). 'Nick? What are you doing here?'

'I was in the neighbourhood jogging and-'

'In the rain? At this time in the morning? And isn't that your SUV in the driveway,' she interrupted, nodding her head at the brightly decorated truck in her driveway.

'Oh! So that's where I left it!' He exclaimed.

'Nick, what are you doing here?' She repeated.

Nick looked over at her, 'you want to hear my secret now?'

Cheryl smiled, 'yeah.'

'I'm falling in love.'

Cheryl grinned, 'Nick, you sly dog. Why haven't you mentioned anything? In all that time I stayed at yours, I never even twigged. Who is she?'

'You don't get it, do you?'

Cheryl looked blankly at him. 'Clearly not.'

Nick grabbed a hold of her hands – one in each of his – and pulled her close. 'It's you,' he told her, 'I'm falling in love with you.'

'Me?' She squeaked.

'Yes you. I love the way you sing so loudly in the shower I can hear you in the kitchen; I love the way you _always_ wear odd socks; I love the way your face lights up when you talk about cars; I love the way my sweaters look on you when you steal one off me; I love the way you rarely stay awake through an entire film; I love the way your eyes can change from green to blue depending on your mood.' He stepped closer to her, so that there was no gap between them anymore, 'and most of all,' he leant down, 'most of all, I love they way you make me feel.' And then he kissed her.

Finally, he pulled away. Cheryl raised her hand to her swollen lips and ran her fingers over them, never taking her eyes of Nick. Nick stared back. She had water running down her cheek, but he wasn't sure if it was the rain, or tears. 'Now would be a good time to say something,' he said softly.

'I steal the covers.'

'If I can wake up next to you, then I'll let you have the covers.'

'I have a really bad temper.'

Nick nodded, 'so long as there's making up afterwards, I'll argue with you all night.'

Cheryl frowned at him, 'I get shot. A lot.'

'Then let me protect you.'

'Are you going to have an answer to everything I say?'

Nick cupped her chin in his hand and brought her head up, 'yes. You admitted that you like to run away from things rather than deal with them, and I'm not going to let you do that this time. I am falling in love with you. And I think you're falling in love with me too.' He looked down into her eyes. They were dark green now, and he was pretty certain that it wasn't just rain drops that were running down her face.

* * *

_Oh, y'all are going to hate me..._

_Thanks for reading!_


	16. Chapter 16

_wraiths-angel - well...she will do... eventually..._

_Cassandra - you may want to take that thanks back, right about now. Don't hate me! (:s) I have plans... i actually wrote the bit you were after ages ago, with the intent of putting it in a later story - but I'm going to put it in this one... you just have to wait a little longer!_

_daynaa - this chapter will be why y'all hate me (:() Can't have too many people being happy at once!_

* * *

There was a loud banging, and Cheryl awoke with a start. Her film had long finished, and the screen had turned blue telling her the DVD had stopped. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, glancing at the clock next to her half empty glass of wine - she'd got it about ten minutes into the film. 5:03am.

There was a crash of thunder and a crack of lightning which lit up her living room, before plunging the house into darkness. She sighed. Christmas day morning with no power. And judging from the silence, no heating either. She pulled the blanket off the back of her couch and wrapped it around her.

There was another loud banging noise, and Cheryl realised that it had been someone knocking at the door that had awoken her. She got up and started to make her way over to the door, but tripped up over Seth, who had run past her, and fell head first into her shelving unit, which, as she fell backwards, fell back with her.

As her DVD collection finished cascading to the floor, the front door burst open, and someone came charging in, gun and torch out. The light landed on her face. 'Cheryl?'

'Nick?' She groaned, her voice muffed by the DVDs. His affirmation was returned by him laughing at her. 'Nick, either help me up, or leave. Because I will kill you when I get out of here.'

Although he continued to laugh, he pulled the bookcase off her, and pulled her to her feet. Cheryl made to swipe at him for laughing, but instead fell into him. Nick dropped the torch, but caught her before she fell over. 'Hey?'

Cheryl screwed her eyes up and brought a hand to her forehead. Where she had connected with the bookcase there was blood. 'Ouch,' she groaned. The next thing she knew, Nick had swept her off her feet and was carrying her into the kitchen, using the little light there was from the torch. 'Whatareyoudoing?' She squealed.

'Stopping you from tripping up again.'

'I tripped over Seth. Speaking of, he's running around somewhere, so be careful.'

Nick nodded and continued over to the breakfast bar, where he set her down. 'Where are you candles?'

'They're in the garage in a box marked "candles". I haven't unpacked properly.'

'That doesn't surprise me. Don't move.' He ordered, before going for his torch and then heading for the garage. Cheryl was lying down on the bar when he returned carrying a large box. 'How many candles do you have?' He muttered as he put the box down on the opposite counter and began pulling out several candles, and placed them all around the kitchen.

When he had finally lit them, it created a warm bright glow, such that it was almost difficult to know that it was coming from just candles. Cheryl lay watching him. He was soaked from the rain, and his hair was curling slightly… and he was wearing a thin black top which was clinging to him in all the right places. She could feel her cheeks burn as she shut her eyes at the deja-vu feeling she was experiencing.

'Are you warm?' Cheryl opened her eyes to find Nick sat down next to her on one of the chairs, with a first aid kit open next to him. She shut her eyes again, but before she could answer, he began softly dabbing a wet cotton wool bud at the cut on her head. He was so gentle she almost didn't feel it. 'I think you're lucky,' he told her.

She opened her eyes again to find Nick bent over her, his face inches from hers, looking intently at the injury on her forehead. She shifted and he stepped back, so she sat upright and swung her legs over the side. She sat there, staring at Nick, then burst out laughing. Whilst he was looking incredibly hot, what with being all wet, he was also looking incredibly pathetic – resembling a drown rat.

'What's so funny?' He demanded.

'You are. I didn't expect to see you so wet, again. Come here.' She reached out and caught his sleeve, pulling him towards her, before reaching down for the bottom of it and pulling it up over his head. She turned and flung the top at another chair, then turned her attention back to Nick.

She froze. Firstly, she had been expecting him to have a second shirt on underneath, or a wife beater on, but he was stood there with a bare chest. Secondly, she had pulled him a hell of a lot closer than she thought.

'Come on,' she said quickly as she jumped of the counter and past him, grabbing a candle. 'Let's find you something dry.' She hurried past him and up the stairs into her bedroom, where she set the candle down and walked into her closet. She began hunting for a shirt for him, not that anything was hung up – no, it was all still in boxes. She managed to find an old LSU football top and an oversized pair of basketball shorts and turned around, but crashed straight into Nick. He caught her before she went flying backwards, again.

'Ugh, this is getting stupid,' she told him. 'I may be a bullet magnet, but I'm not usually this clutzy.' She brought up her hands and held out the dry clothes. 'You're going to have to become a temporary tiger, because I don't have anything owl, unsurprisingly.'

Nick let go of her waist and took the clothes, but didn't move.

Cheryl frowned, 'I can find you a Man City shirt, if wearing purple and gold is really that big of a problem?' She started to turn back around but he grabbed her wrist and stopped her. 'Fine, I'll find that NYPD T-shirt I have somewhere.'

'The shirt is fine,' he said softly.

'Is it the shorts then? Because I think I have an old pair of jogging pants of Bosco's somewhere?'

'The shorts are fine too,' he told her in the same tone of voice.

The closet seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. 'Socks!' She exclaimed quickly and darted out into her bedroom. It was a bit of a mess, really. She had only bothered setting up the living room, and everything in her bedroom was in boxes still. Even the bed just had bare pillows and duvet on it. She pulled some fluffy socks out of the drawer and turned to throw them to Nick. He was leant against the closet doorframe watching her.

Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, Cheryl scuttled out of the room and back downstairs. She had managed to move the majority of the candles into her living room and was sat in front of the fire, trying to light it, when Nick came back down. 'Alright, what's going on?' He asked her, sitting down next to her. 'Is this about what happened earlier?'

'Huh?'

'When I told you what happened in that box.'

'No. I'm sorry,' she sighed, 'it is nothing about that at all. I guess I'm a little spooked.'

'It is a bit of a mean storm,' he said commenting on the weather which was still raging around them.

Finally, Cheryl flung the matches down on the floor in frustration. Nick laughed at her and picked them up. He had the fire going almost instantly. 'Figures,' she muttered, bringing her knees up under her chin. 'So, who was right about Warrick and Catherine?'

'You. Man, I never saw that one coming.'

'You're not very good at working out who likes who,' she chuckled.

'Neither are you.'

Cheryl frowned, 'why? Who have I missed? I mean, I think I'm getting strange vibes from Sara. As in she likes someone that isn't me. I think it might be Grissom, actually.'

Nick shook his head at her, 'never mind.'

'How come you haven't gone home for Christmas?' She asked, changing the subject.

'It sounds terrible, but the last thing I wanted was to sit around with people pitying me. How come you haven't?'

'I'm going back to Miami for the New Year, for a couple of days.' She paused, 'would you like to come with me? Horatio wouldn't mind.'

Nick smiled, 'I would like that a lot.'

Cheryl smiled back, 'great. I'll let uncle H know when it's a more reasonable time.'

'You know,' started Nick, 'I never told you my secret.'

Cheryl froze. 'Oh, that's alright, you don't have to.'

'No, you told mesomething about you.It's only fair I tell you something about me.'

Cheryl got up and grabbed her half full glass of wine, finishing it in one, 'I'm empty, want one?' Without waiting for a reply, she dashed into the kitchen and to the bottle of wine. With a brief glance at her glass, she ignored it, opting to drink straight from the bottle. She turned around to find Nick right behind her and dropped the bottle. It shattered, sending glass and wine all over the tiles.

'What is the matter, Cheryl?' Nick asked her softly. 'You can tell me.'

'That's just it Nick, I can't tell you, because I can't make sense of what's in my head!' She cried, stepping over the mess and to the sink.

'Cheryl, you're not making much sense, and what I am getting from this, I'm jumping to conclusions.' He stepped behind her, and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. 'Talk to me.' He watched her reflection in the rain splattered window. She wasn't looking at him, instead her eyes were shut and she was biting on her lip.

Cheryl took a deep breath, 'what's your secret?' She asked him.

'Are you trying to change the subject?'

'No,' she told him, 'I'm trying to – never mind, just… what's your secret?'

Nick glanced at the blonde and sighed. He was pretty certain she knew what he was going to say, but he was equally as certain that she was right when she said she couldn't deal with it. 'I was a cheerleader in college.' He would just have to wait to tell her how he was feeling and the other thing he was certain of – she would be worth waiting for.

* * *

_Now, don't worry - there's still more to come... they have to arrest Dallas, for one... and yeah, Cheryl needs to admit that she likes Nick!_


	17. Chapter 17

_Cassandra - You're right. I was mean... very mean. However, you don't have to wait another 16 chapters. I wasn't going to do it in this chapter, but decided, what the hey?_

_wraiths-angel - hehehehe, yup, poor Nick. It's true, I'm mean. So, I'm going to be nice now!_

* * *

After Nick had left, Cheryl had tried to get some more sleep, but her sleep had been plagued with more dreams like the first on she had. Not that they weren't pleasant – they just confused the hell out of her. Was her heart actually telling her she liked Nick? She couldn't… surely? She'd already had one relationship with a colleague, and look how that turned out.

She sighed, went to try and have a shower, but soon gave up on that one when she remembered that the shower was powered by electricity. Instead, she got dressed and decided to head to the Lab – it wasn't like she was going to be able to do much, what with having no power, and all.

The lab was even quieter than it had been the previous day, but at least it had power. Cheryl decided the first thing she was doing was having a shower, followed by some breakfast of some kind. Great plans in theory, only the breakfast part never came into fruition. Instead she was stopped by Sofia.

'You're in today?'

Cheryl nodded, 'no power, and nothing better to do.'

'Good. We have a crime scene to process then.'

'What have you got for me?'

'Your car, silly.'

Cheryl laughed, 'it's been called in, then.'

'Did it half an hour ago,' Sofia told her as they walked outside.

'Where are you guys off to?' It was Nick.

Cheryl blushed and looked at the floor.

'To process her car,' Sofia told him, 'are you going to come with us?'

'Sure. I'm supposed to be working today anyway,' he shrugged as he joined them.

---------------------------------------------

Several hours later, and Cheryl's car was in the garage being processed – in other words, she was taking it apart, piece by piece, and it was killing her. Especially as they had found only a handful of prints, which Nick was currently running.

By mid afternoon, Nick had returned. 'We got a lead.'

Cheryl wheeled herself out from underneath the car and looked up at him, 'what?'

'A print matched a Tony Cruz – in the system for a dozen speeding offences. Sofia went to his last know address and spoke to the landlady. Only he left a few weeks back.'

'And that's a lead, how?'

'The landlady said he's left a forwarding address. She's on her way in with it.'

Cheryl nodded, 'alright, I'll finish up here and come join you.'

'Okay. I'll see you in a while.'

---------------------------------------------

Big lips, perfect figure, long legs, immaculate hair – that was Cindy, the landlady. Still dressed in her overalls, a few smudges of oil on her face, Cheryl was leaning against a wall watching the two flirt with each other.

'So, that's my number at the top there,' Cindy was saying, twirling her hair around her finger, standing coyly on one of those bare legs.

'Is it really?' Nick asked her, a huge grin on his face.

'You should call it sometime. I love a man who carries such a big gun.'

Cheryl had heard enough. She silently turned away and headed back to the break room where she slunk onto the couch. There was no way she could compete with that… hang on… compete? She sighed and led her head fall back against the couch back.

'I would have thought you would be in Miami with your uncle.'

Cheryl opened her eyes and found Catherine staring down at her. 'I'd have thought you would have been at home with your daughter,' she countered.

Catherine smiled, 'she's in the car. I only came in because I left one of her Christmas presents in my locker.'

Cheryl nodded, 'how did you know I was going to Miami?'

'Your uncle.'

'You speak to my uncle?'

'Yeah, he made me promise to keep an eye on you after I got shot.'

Cheryl's eyes widened in understanding, 'you're how he knows about me being trapped in that pit.'

Catherine nodded, 'yeah. Sorry. I wasn't going to say anything, but he has a way of getting information out of you.'

Cheryl was amazed – even Catherine was susceptible to Horatio's powers. 'Don't worry. He would have found out one way or another.'

'When do you leave, then?'

'In a few days. Me and Nick are spending New Years there.'

'You and Nick?'

'Catherine,' sighed Cheryl, 'he's not interested in me like that. He's currently exchanging numbers with that plastic filled model out there.'

'Oh, is that jealousy?'

'No!'

'Then why are you in here sulking?'

I'm not sulking. I… I… So, you and Warrick?'

Catherine sat down next to her, 'yeah. I think so.'

'What about Tina?'

'I think that's over.'

Cheryl leant over and hugged the mother figure, 'that's great, Cath.'

'Thanks. Look, I can't stay. Lindsay will have a fit if I take any longer. Just do me a favour,' she requested as she started walking out of the door. 'Get yourself out of denial land. It will make yourself feel a lot better.'

Cheryl watched her leave. Denial land? What was that supposed to mean?

--------------------------------------------------------

By the end of the day, Tony Cruz was in custody. The address the bimbo had given them had been current and Sofia had arrested him, much to Cheryl's delight. He was also talking about coughing up Dallas for a lighter sentence. Which meant that Cheryl could put the paperwork in for her to get her car back.

In the meantime, Cheryl had managed to work herself into a very bad mood, for reasons she couldn't, or rather, wouldn't admit to. After discovering that the power was still off at hers, and after feeding Eddie and Seth, she decided that the best course of action involved a nice dose of alcohol. So she drove to a little way to a small bar.

Cheryl walked into the small country-esque bar and sat down at the bar, ignoring the looks she was getting from the less-than-appealing clientele. As soon as the bartender wandered over, she ordered herself a shot of tequila, then changed her mind, telling the tender that he may as well leave the bottle with her instead. Before he could voice the objections he was clearly going to, she pulled out her platinum credit card and slapped it on the bar. There was no way anyone was going to come between her and the alcohol tonight. Lord knows after the day she had, she needed it.

By her seventh… glass… she had almost 'rationalized' that the reason she was concerned – not jealous in the slightest – was because the woman had seemed like a scam-artist, and was probably about ten years older than she had told Nick, and she was merely concerned over the well-being of a very good friend and colleague. Almost.

By the eleventh glass, she had convinced herself that the only reason she had thought she was attracted to Nick was because he kind of reminded her of Tim. Of course, the ONLY resemblances the two had were that they were both CSIs, and both had dark hair. But that's what eleven glasses of tequila would do.

By the fourteenth, the alcohol had burnt away her taste buds to the point that not even limes were needed. By the fourteenth, she had also convinced herself that the guy sat next to her, with greasy hair, a beer belly, and three teeth missing, who also looked old enough to be her grandfather, was beginning to look attractive.

It was part way through her fifteenth when Nick, Warrick and Greg walked in. The three had decided that an easy evening of darts and beer to celebrate Christmas was in order (well, Greg had just returned from the family dinner from hell, and Tina had announced she was working), and didn't notice their young, blonde colleague leaning against the bar in the corner, her head in her hand, sipping at the amber liquid, until they themselves had been stood at the bar and had taken their first mouthfuls of beer.

It was Greg who noticed her first, elbowing Warrick, 'guys, isn't that our Cheryl?'

The two men turned to look where he was nodding.

---------------------------------------------------------

'Ugh,' groaned Cheryl as the three men headed over to her. 'Of all the bars, in all of Vegas, you had to walk into mine.' The guys were impressed – even though she was slurring slightly, she had still managed to retain her wit.

'How much have you had?' Greg asked her, picking up the now half-full bottle of José Cuervo. He glanced over at the barman who had heard what he had asked and was indicating that the bottle had been full.

Nick looked from the barman to Cheryl, then to his two male friends. 'I'm gonna cancel on the game, guys.' Warrick nodded his head, understanding immediately what he was saying. Greg on the other hand, wasn't reading the message loud and clear. He was about to sit down next to his drunken friend, when Warrick grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him away from the two.

Thankfully, Cheryl was that drunk, she didn't notice his yelps of protests. She wasn't that drunk, however, to not notice Nick pull up a stool beside her. 'Your date didn't go all that well, then?'

Nick frowned at the bitterness in her voice, 'what date?'

'Chrissy, or Britney, or whatever the bimbo's name was.' She may have been ever-so slightly inebriated, but she knew the girl's name.

Nick held back a smirk. She was jealous. 'Cindy?'

Cheryl wafted her hand at him, 'whatever.'

'I never pegged you for the jealous type.'

'Jealous? Me? Of her?' Cheryl scoffed, 'puh-lease. Why would I be jealous of someone who has less brain cells than my ferret?'

'The woman was an investment broker.'

'And Seth can open bottles. It's not like there's much difference.'

Nick suppressed another smile, 'so why are you sat here by yourself?'

'I'm not here by myself.' She sat up and pointed behind Nick, 'I'm enjoying a drink with my friend Sam, here.'

'Chuck,' said the semi-toothless man, displaying a gummy grin, 'but you can call me Sam, darling.'

'Yeah, like I said, Chad.'

This time, Nick couldn't hold back the small laugh. 'I think it's about time we got you home to bed.' He told her, nodding to the barman that he wanted to close the tab. He came over with the bill, but Nick put his card down, telling him to use that rather than Cheryl's. Cheryl, who was busy pouring herself yet another glass was oblivious to the act of chivalry that was going on next to her. Until he tried to take the tequila bottle away.

'What are you doing?'

'I told you, taking you home.'

'I have no power. And I was enjoying that tequila,' she growled at him.

'Ah, a mean drunk,' he said pulling her to her feet. She tried to resist, but the alcohol wasn't letting her. Instead, she (unwillingly, admittedly) allowed him to lead her out to her car and sat her down in the passenger seat.

'Nick, this is your place,' she mumbled a short time later.

'You said your place had no power.'

'… good point.'

Nick laughed and pulled up outside his house. 'Come on, lets get you a hot chocolate.'

'You could get me some more tequila,' she grumbled as she walked in and threw herself down on the couch.

Nick appeared a few minutes later with a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate and sat down next to her, handing her the mug.

Cheryl took the mug but stared at it, rather than drinking it.

'What's up?' Nick asked her, softly.

'Nothing.'

'Don't give me that. You're useless at hiding your emotions.'

'There's nothing wrong, Nick. So why don't you just call me a cab, let me go back to the bar, and then you can call Carly.'

'Cindy.'

'Whatever. I was enjoying the tequila.' She ran her finger around the rim of the mug. 'I can't compete with that.'

Nick frowned, 'compete with what?'

'Never mind.' She set her drink down and got up, making her way to the door.

Nick leapt to his feet and grabbed her before she could leave, turning her back around to face her. She was crying. 'Hey,' he said softly, 'hey, hey, what's with the tears?'

'I'm not a Barbie.'

Nick frowned, 'I know you're not.'

'But you deserve a Barbie. You deserve someone that-'

'What are you trying to tell me, Cheryl?'

'I like you, alright. It turns out I actually like you a lot. But I don't have perfect hair and I don't wear make-up, and-'

'Cheryl.'

'And I don't wear skirts, and I like cars, and I prefer playing on a Playstation to pampering myself-'

Cheryl!'

'I hate wearing heels, and I'm not a girly girl, and-'

Nick rolled his eyes and kissed her.

When he finally pulled away, Cheryl just stood there blinking at him. 'Now that I have finally gotten you to shut up… I like you too. I don't want Cindy, I don't want a Barbie. I want you.'

'I'm dreaming again, aren't I?'

'Dreaming?' He leant over, 'could a dream do this?' He kissed her again.

'You did last night,' she panted. 'And a lot more too.'

Nick cocked his head, 'oh really?'

'I'm not dreaming, am I?'

He laughed, 'I'm afraid not. Come on,' he said pulling her away from the door, 'let's get you in bed.'

Cheryl stopped, 'I may be on the wrong side of sober right now, but I'm not like that, Nick.'

Nick smiled, 'I know. And that's part of why I like you. However, the spare bed has been stripped, and the worst place to wake up with a hangover is the couch, so you're having my bed. And I'm sleeping with you, and you are not leaving my arms tonight.'

Cheryl smiled shyly, 'I'd like that.'

* * *

_So, I was going to end it here, but I've missed writing H and co, so... we're off to Miami!Well... Nick has to be checked out by Cheryl's extended family, doesn't he!_


End file.
